Candidates in this year’s assembly elections have gone to great lengths in their publicity campaigns. Despite the intensive campaigning, the Election Commission has been hesitant to disclose the expenses incurred. In the ten urban constituency seats in the district, candidates from Congress and BJP, especially on the Sanganer assembly seat, have spent a considerable sum of eight lakh rupees each on campaign events and meals. In contrast, Ganga Devi from Bagru (Congress) and Chandramohan Batwada from Kishanpol (BJP) have limited their expenses to just one lakh rupees each on workers’ meals.
The Election Commission had set a maximum limit of 40 lakh rupees for election expenses per candidate. Additionally, the Election Department monitors the regular expenditures made by candidates to prevent misuse of funds during elections. According to information from the district election department, the BJP candidate in Sanganer spent a total of 26 lakh rupees, while the Congress candidate, Pushpendra Bharadwaj, incurred expenses of 20.49 lakh rupees, both allocating eight lakh rupees for tea and snacks. In Jhotwara, Congress candidate Abhishek Choudhary spent 10.63 lakh rupees, including five lakh rupees on tea and snacks, while BJP’s Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore spent 8.44 lakh rupees, with seven lakh rupees for posters and banners, including tea and snacks. In Amer, BJP candidate Satish Puniya spent 3.60 lakh rupees out of a total of 4.60 lakh rupees on tea and snacks. Similarly, Congress spent four lakh rupees out of 9.66 lakh rupees in Vidyadhar Nagar, Bagru’s Congress candidate Ganga Devi spent an additional one lakh rupees from the total of 5.18 lakh rupees, and BJP’s Kailash Varma spent only 4.58 lakh rupees. In Vidhyadhar Nagar, BJP’s Diya Kumari spent 1.75 lakh rupees on tea and snacks out of a total of 8.30 lakh rupees, while Congress candidate Sitararam Agrawal spent 3.20 lakh rupees on workers’ tea and snacks out of 5.26 lakh rupees. Similarly, in Civil Lines, BJP candidate Gopal Sharma spent 4.42 lakh rupees, including 93 thousand rupees on tea and snacks.
In Malviya Nagar, BJP’s Kalicharan Saraf spent 10.28 lakh rupees, and Congress’s Archana Sharma spent two lakh rupees on tea and snacks out of a total of 12.75 lakh rupees. In Hawa Mahal, BJP’s Balmukundacharya spent four lakh rupees out of 6.88 lakh rupees, and Congress’s AR Tewari spent 2.50 lakh rupees on tea and snacks out of 8.90 lakh rupees. In Adarsh Nagar, Congress candidate Rafiq Khan spent two lakh rupees out of 10.10 lakh rupees, while BJP’s Ravi Nair spent four lakh rupees out of 19.70 lakh rupees. In Kishanpol, Congress’s Ameen Kajji spent four lakh rupees out of 6.60 lakh rupees, and BJP’s Chandramohan Batwada spent one lakh rupees out of 3.35 lakh rupees on workers’ tea and snacks.
