EC exceeded RK Nagar bypoll expenditure by over Rs 2.5 crore

Sources said, usually, the EC would spend about Rs 70 lakh for a by-election. In this case, expenses shot up since the bypoll grabbed national attention after it was rescinded earlier in April 2017 due to alleged large-scale bribing of voters. The EC increased a number of surveillance teams besides installing cameras in residential areas, among others.

The EC had returned as much as Rs 27 lakh seized on suspicion that it was meant for bribing voters, after it was accounted for.

Sources said the EC had already verified the accounts of poll expenditures of all 59 contesting candidates. The Commission, however, would necessitate action against the candidates, including the winner in case of complaints, if any, with necessary evidences of breaching the ceiling of Rs 28 lakh were received. It is pertinent to note that none of the candidates’ expense had crossed it in the shadow accounts maintained by the Observers.

It had received a total of 904 complaints of poll code violation. As many as 125 cases including the one against Dhinakaran’s supporter P Vetrivel for releasing a short-video of a hospitalised conscious Jayalalithaa had been registered with regard to poll code violation, and nearly Rs 30 lakh cash was seized as unaccounted for.