The Congress spent Rs 70 lakh each for Rahul Gandhi’s campaigns in Wayanad and Rae Bareli apart from spending the maximum in Mandi to try and defeat Kangana Ranaut in Mandi by devoting Rs 87 lakh for the campaign of its candidate Vikramaditya Singh — but in vain.
Rahul Gandhi won from both Wayanad and Rae Bareli and has retained the latter seat. His sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will contest the bypoll from Wayanad now. Vikramaditya Singh, the son of former Himachal Pradesh CM Virbhadra Singh, lost to BJP’s Ranaut by around 75,000 votes from Mandi Lok Sabha seat.
The Congress also spent Rs 70 lakh on the election campaign of Kishori Lal from Amethi.
Samajwadi Party, meanwhile, spent the maximum funds — Rs 72.15 lakh — on the election of Dimple Yadav in Manipuri, while Rs 60 lakh was spent on the election of party supremo Akhilesh Yadav from Kannauj. All this has been revealed in the Election Expenditure Statements for Lok Sabha elections filed by the parties before the Election Commission of India.
Asaduddin Owaisi’s party spent Rs 52 lakh on his election from Hyderabad. The Trinamool Congress has, meanwhile, told the ECI that it spent Rs 75 lakh each on its 48 candidates in the Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal — a total expenditure of Rs 36 crore. The Akali Dal said it spent Rs 60 lakh on the election of Harsmirat Badal from Bathinda.
All parties have to declare their expenditure statement before the ECI, including money spent by the party on candidate campaigns in various seats.
