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Their ornate campaigns cost only a trifle

By Our Staff Correspondent

CHITRADURGA, MAY 1. The candidates in the recent elections in the district spent just a couple of lakhs each on electioneering, according to the accounts submitted by them.

Those who had witnessed the campaign do not believe this. Deploying fleets of vehicles and party workers for canvassing for two weeks, bringing out campaign material and employing other methods of attracting votes cost more than that, they say.

The Election Commission has fixed a ceiling of Rs. 25 lakh for election expenditure for a Lok Sabha candidate and Rs. 10 lakh for an Assembly candidate.

But in the Chitradurga Lok Sabha Constituency and the Assembly segments in it, the candidates have shown in their account books that their expenditures do not come anywhere near the ceiling. The lowest expenditure of Rs. 14,614 was by M. Krishnappa of the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the highest of Rs. 15.22 lakh was by S. Parameshwarappa of the Janata Party in the Lok Sabha constituency.

The former MP, P. Kodandaramaiah, of the Janata Dal (Secular) spent only Rs. 1.54 lakh till April 19. Moodalagiriyappa of the Bharatiya Janata Party spent Rs. 11.09 lakh and N.Y. Hanumanthappa of the Congress Rs. 8.56 lakh. The Kannada Nadu candidate, Venkatesh, has not yet submitted his accounts. The Returning Officer has served a notice on him for the submission of accounts.

"Everyone knows that we cannot submit the real accounts. If we submit the actual figures, we have to face trouble. If stringent action is to be taken, then no one will be there to represent the people. It is a wasteful exercise,'' a candidate told The Hindu on the condition of anonymity.

"The ceiling is very low. It should have been revised time to time. In most Assembly constituencies, the expenditure of each candidate amounts to crores of rupees. Everyone knows that if we stick to the rulebook, we cannot win,'' he added.

A senior official told The Hindu that there was no substantial evidence to give the lie to the accounts submitted by the candidates. Without active vigil by the public itself, the officers could not do asnything, he added.

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