Congress paid over Rs 12 cr to its candidates to meet Delhi poll expenses: EC submissions

The Congress paid over Rs 12 crore to its candidates to meet expenses in the Delhi assembly polls held earlier this year, according to submissions by the party before the Election Commission. In its "part election expenditure" statement submitted to the poll panel in March on the "lump sum amount" paid to candidates for the February polls, the party said it gave Rs 12,25,00,000 to its 64 candidates, all of whom lost with some forfeiting their security deposits.

The document, signed by Congress general secretary Motilal Vora, was put in the public domain by the EC recently. The Congress had left some of the seats to its ally RJD in the Delhi assembly election held on February 8 this year.

The lump sum amount paid to each of the candidates by the party varied from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 25 lakh. Most of the payments were made in two installments. A candidate contesting assembly polls in Delhi cannot spend beyond Rs 28 lakh as election expense. There is no election expenditure limit or ceiling for political parties.


The amount paid by political parties to their candidates to meet election expenditure is reflected in the statements submitted by both to the EC after the polls. The Aam Aadmi Party won 62, while the Bharatiya Janata Party took the remaining eight of the 70 seats in the Delhi elections.