TMC gave Rs 75 lakh each to 48 candidates to contest Lok Sabha polls: Expenditure statement

The Trinamool Congress gave Rs 75 lakh each to 48 of its candidates, including senior leaders Abhishek Banerjee, Mahua Moitra and Shatrughan Sinha, to contest the recently-concluded Lok Sabha elections. According to the party’s part expenditure statement on payments made to its candidates to contest the parliamentary polls, it spent Rs 3.60 crore for the contesting candidates.

The statement was submitted to the Election Commission on June 7, two days after the results were declared.

While it had fielded most of the candidates from West Bengal, some contested the polls from Assam and Meghalaya.

The TMC, which rules West Bengal, is a recognised state party.

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The Aam Aadmi Party, which has a recognised national party tag, gave a total of over Rs 60 lakh to three of its candidates — two from Delhi and one from Gujarat.

Chaitarbhai Vasava, its candidate from Bharuch in Gujarat, got nearly half of the Rs 60 lakh.

All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-Ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) gave a total of Rs 52 lakh to its president Asaduddin Owaisi in two instalments.

While there is a ceiling on expenditure a candidate can incur on electioneering, there is no such limit for political parties.

In January 2022, based on the recommendation of the EC, the government had hiked the election expenditure limit for candidates to Rs 95 lakh from Rs 70 lakh for Lok Sabha elections and to Rs 40 lakh from Rs 28 lakh for assembly elections.

For Lok Sabha polls, the revised expenditure limit now stands at Rs 90 lakh for bigger states and Rs 75 for smaller states.

The 2024 Lok Sabha elections were held in seven phases and the results were announced on June 4.

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