Study raises questions on election expenses of MPs, including PM Modi and Advani

The poll expenses declared by political parties and their members of Parliament show discrepancies, indicating that either the party or the MP is not submitting correct figures, an analysis by a voluntary group suggests. The Association for Democratic Reforms which works towards electoral reforms, claimed after an analysis of declarations submitted by political parties and their candidates, that the declaration by 33 percent MPs on lump sum amounts received, does not match with their parties’ declarations regarding the amount allocated to the candidate for election expenditure. [caption id=“attachment_2438974” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Image courtesy: Reuters[/caption] This includes Prime Minister Narendra Modi and senior BJP leader LK Advani, both of whom have declared receiving a lesser lump sum amount than the figure declared by the party. On the other hand, Ashok Chavan of the Congress and Supriya Sule of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) were among the parliamentarians who declared a larger amount than the one declared by their respective parties. “Out of 342 MPs from national parties, a total of Rs 75.58 crore was declared by 263 MPs as received from their parties, whereas the national parties have declared that Rs 54.73 crore was given to only 175 MPs,” the group said here today. It said that the BJP declared having given a total of Rs 1.22 crore to 17 MPs — each receiving a sum less than or equal to Rs 10 lakh — and Rs 47.03 crore to 142 MPs — each receiving a sum of more than Rs 10 lakh for their election expenditure. However, of 282 BJP MPs, 229 have declared receiving aid worth Rs 65.88 crore from the party, which is around Rs 18 crore more than the figure declared by the party, it said. “Of 159 MPs to whom BJP had declared having given a lump sum amount, only 105 MPs had declared the same amount while 35 declared an amount larger than the party had stated,” the group said in a statement.

The group said that the Congress declared before the Election Commission that it had given a total of Rs 2.7 crore to seven MPs — each receiving amounts above Rs 10 lakh — while the NCP declared a total of Rs 2.5 crore to five MPs — each receiving a sum greater than Rs 10 lakh. Of 44 Congress MPs, 18 have declared receiving Rs 4.03 crore from the party, while all six NCP MPs declared receiving Rs 2.79 crore. The CPI(M) was the only party in which the declarations made by MPs tallied with those made by parties. “The Election Commission could scrutinise the expenditure statements within six months of declaration of election results, and erring parties and their candidates should be penalised. This should also be treated as wrong filing of affidavits by the candidates, if proven,” the group which carried out the study said. [caption id=“attachment_2439012” align=“alignnone” width=“600”]  Comparison between amount declared by MPs and amount declared by parties[/caption] With inputs from PTI