close_game
close_game

Vikramaditya given more funds than Rahul Gandhi to campaign for LS polls

By, Dharamshala
Aug 31, 2024 10:52 PM IST

Congress gave Vikramaditya the highest ₹87 lakh to contest the elections while Rahul Gandhi received ₹70 lakh.

Himachal public works department (PWD) minister Vikramaditya Singh, who lost the Lok Sabha battle to Bharatiya Janata Party’s Kangana Ranaut from the Mandi, was given the highest 87 lakh from the party fund to contest the elections, Congress has disclosed to the Election Commission of India.

Shimla, Feb 29 (ANI): Congress MLA Vikramaditya Singh speaks to the media on the disqualification of the six party MLAs, who cross-voted in Rajya Sabha polls, in Shimla on Thursday. (ANI Photo) (ANI)
Shimla, Feb 29 (ANI): Congress MLA Vikramaditya Singh speaks to the media on the disqualification of the six party MLAs, who cross-voted in Rajya Sabha polls, in Shimla on Thursday. (ANI Photo) (ANI)

The party’s Kangra candidate and former Union minister Anand Sharma was given 46 lakh. He too lost to BJP’s Rajeev Bhardwaj with the highest margin in the state of 2,51,895 votes.

As per the election expenditure filed by the Congress to the ECI, the party gave 70 lakh each to its top leader Rahul Gandhi, to contest the Lok Sabha elections from Wayanad and Raebareli seats. The party had submitted its “part election expenditure statement” in July, for Lok Sabha polls and legislative assembly elections in four states.

In January 2022, based on the recommendation of the EC, the government had hiked the election expenditure limit for candidates to 95 lakh for Lok Sabha elections and to 40 lakh for assembly elections. The spending limits have been increased over the years, including from 2019, when these were 70 lakh for Lok Sabha candidates and 28 lakh for Assembly contenders.

The Mandi Lok Sabha seat witnessed a fierce contest between actor-turned-politician and BJP candidate Kangana Ranaut and Congress’ Vikramaditya Singh. Ranaut secured 5,37,022 votes to defeat Vikramaditya by a margin of 74,755. From the four seats in Himachal, the electoral contest in Mandi was the most keenly watched given that both candidates had significant appeal amid the masses.

Pratibha Singh, Vikramaditya’s mother, had wrested the seat for the Congress in the 2021 Lok Sabha bypolls held following the demise of sitting BJP MP Ram Swaroop Sharma, who had registered back-to-back victories in 2014 and 2019.

In Himachal BJP had marked a hat-trick winning Himachal’s all four parliamentary seats — Kangra, Shimla, Mandi and Hamirpur — albeit with reduced margins.

rec-icon Recommended Topics
Share this article
See More
SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
SHARE
Story Saved
Live Score
Saved Articles
Following
My Reads
Sign out
New Delhi 0C
Saturday, February 08, 2025
Start 14 Days Free Trial Subscribe Now
Follow Us On