Nagaland’s contestants spent least money in 2024 LS polls — ECI
According to the Election Commission of India, Nagaland recorded the lowest expenditure by candidates in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections combined expenditure amounting to INR 28.76 lakh
- DIMAPUR — Nagaland
recorded the lowest expenditure by candidates in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections,
with a combined expenditure by all the contestants amounting to INR 28.76 lakh,
according to the Election Commission of India (ECI).
- At the other end of the table, the Faridkot parliamentary
constituency (PC) in Punjab registered the highest expenditure by candidates,
with a combined spending of INR 4.19 crore.
- This information was contained in a 130-page book, titled
‘Atlas’, released by the ECI on February 12. Among others, the book featured a
section on the top 50 PCs with the highest expenditures as well as the top 50
PCs with the lowest expenditures.
- According to the ECI, the Nagaland PC stood first among the
top 50 PCs with the lowest expenditure, and all candidates combined spent INR
28.76 lakh. Three candidates—S Supongmeren Jamir, Chumben Murry and Hayithung
Tungoe Lotha—contested the elections.
- Also, the ECI listed 15 winning candidates with the highest
and lowest individual spending. The highest spending winner, according to the
ECI data, was Shashi Tharoor of Congress in Thiruvananthapuram PC of Kerala,
who had spent INR 94.9 lakh.
- The lowest spending was by Pratima Mondal of TMC, who had
spent just INR 12,500 by herself. It is worth noting that the amount spent by
parties was separate and not included in the ECI report.
- On the other hand, political parties do not have any ceiling
on their expenditure during elections.
- Per a recent ‘expenditure report’ published by the ECI for
last year’s general elections, the BJP had declared that its total spending
stood at INR 1,737.68 crore, nearly three times the poll expenditure declared
by its rival Congress, which spent INR 584.65 crore.
