Notice Issued to Top Spending Candidates in Maval Lok Sabha Election Over Expense Discrepancies
Reported By Varad Bhatkhande
Maval, 16th May 2024: Voting for the Maval Lok Sabha Constituency took place on Monday, May 13th. Shrirang Barne, the Mahayuti candidate and incumbent MP, emerged as the top spender in this election, having disbursed a total of Rs 59,00,166. Sanjog Waghere, representing the Mahavikas Aghadi, closely follows with campaign expenses totaling Rs 57,125,420. Due to the discrepancy in their expenditure, the Election Returning Officer of the Maval Lok Sabha constituency has issued a notice to both candidates.
The campaign expenses of candidates in the Maval Lok Sabha constituency were scrutinized thrice, on May 3rd, 7th, and 11th. Discrepancies were initially detected during the first examination of Barne’s and Waghere’s campaign finances, prompting Election Returning Officer Deepak Singla to issue a notice. Representatives of both candidates have contested the disparities. Subsequent audits revealed further inconsistencies between the declared expenses and the shadow registers maintained by the administration. Barne reported spending Rs 43,81,166, while the election commission’s register recorded Rs 59,00,166, indicating a discrepancy of Rs 15,194,340. Similarly, Waghere declared expenditures amounting to Rs 49,81,690 whereas the commission’s register showed Rs 57,12,542, revealing a discrepancy of Rs 7,30,852. Notices have been issued to Barne and Waghere to explain these differences, failing which the expenses will be deemed acceptable and included in the candidates’ expenditure accounts.
Furthermore, notices have been served to three independent candidates, Shivaji Jadhav, Yashwant Pawar, and Santosh Ubale, as they have not made their daily expenditure accounts available for scrutiny.
