Chief Minister Sukhvinder Sukhu spent the least amount of Rs 11.25 lakh from the Nadaun segment in Hamirpur district in the 2022 Assembly elections. This disclosure has been made in the election expenditure data compiled by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

Sukhu was followed by Davinder Kumar (Rs 14.47 lakh) from Kutlehar in Una and Neeraj Nayyar (Rs 12.07 lakh) from Chamba. Incidentally, all three belong to the Congress.

Others least spenders are Kewal Singh (Shahpur), Hoshiyar Singh (Dehra), Anirudh Singh (Kasumpti), Sudarshan Singh Babloo (Chintpurni), Harish Janartha (Shimla Urban), Suresh Kumar (Bhoranj) and Mohan Lal Brakta (Rohru).

The Congress had won 40 seats, BJP 25 and Independents three seats. The party-wise data shows that the average expenditure made by BJP legislators on the Assembly elections was Rs 28.89 lakh as compared to Rs 22.87 lakh spent by 40 Congress MLAs.

As per the data, 73% of the expenditure by candidates was made through funds received from the party, 14% from self-funds and 13% from individuals or associations as donations.

The highest election expenditure has been made by BJP MLA from Chopal Balbir Verma, who spent Rs 36.92 lakh. A close second to him is Sulah MLA and former Vidhan Sabha Speaker Vipin Parmar, who spent Rs 36.36 lakh. Former CM Jai Ram Thakur spent Rs 35.34 lakh, being the third-highest spender, from Seraj in Mandi district.

Others with high election expenditure are Yadvinder Goma (Jaisinghpur), Sudhir Sharma (Dharamshala), Satpal Singh Satti (Una), Deep Raj (Karsog), Ranbir Singh (Nurpur), Pawan Kajal (Kangra) and Surinder Shourie (Banjar).

The three Independent MLAs have spent Rs.20.87 lakh (52.2% of the expense limit) on their elections. As per the average election expenses by the elected MLAs, 66 spent Rs 24.88 lakh, which is 62 per cent of the prescribed limit. Of the 66 MLAs analysed, only 15 (23 per cent) have declared the election expenses of less than 50 per cent of the prescribed limit, the ADR report reveals.

Notably, the maximum expenditure limit for a candidate is Rs 40 lakh.

EX-CM THAKUR 3RD-HIGHEST SPENDER

• The highest poll expenditure has been made by BJP MLA from Chopal Balbir Verma, who spent Rs 36.92 lakh
• A close second to him is Sulah MLA and Vidhan Sabha ex-Speaker Vipin Parmar, who spent Rs 36.36 lakh
• Ex-CM Jai Ram Thakur spent Rs 35.34 lakh, being the third-highest spender, from Seraj in Mandi