Deol poll expenses Rs 8L more than limit: Panel

Gurdaspur

The high-powered District Election Monitoring Committee (DEMC), the authority which keeps a tab on the expenditure incurred by candidates during elections by maintaining shadow observation registers (SOR), has confirmed that Gurdaspur MP Sunny Deol actually overshot his expenditure limit.

The committee, comprising two expenditure observers (both IRS officers), Deputy Commissioners of Gurdaspur and Pathankot and two nodal officers (expenditure), has now submitted its final report to the state Election Commission mentioning that Deol exceeded the limit by Rs 8.51 lakh. The maximum expenditure that can be incurred is Rs 70 lakh as decided by the Election Commission of India (EC). Earlier, this figure was pegged at Rs 18.27 lakh but was cut down after the DEMC was satisfied that some payments were unduly added.

One of Deol’s lawyers, Sanjay Aggarwal, has now challenged the report in the state Election Commission.

Aggarwal claimed that he had asked for proof from the DEMC about excess spending, but none was forthcoming. Congress leaders were quick to rake up the issue of ‘irregularities’ allegedly committed by the MP. Former MP and PPCC chief Sunil Jakhar and Cabinet minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa urged the EC to immediately disqualify the MP.

“It will be a complete travesty of justice if the EC does not take action when it is as clear as daylight that the MP has grossly violated the code of conduct,” said Randhawa. “Rules have to be followed and the sanctity of the code of conduct has to be maintained,” said Jakhar. The DEMC met the MP’s lawyers on June 22 to ‘reconcile’ (match) his accounts with those of the shadow observation registers. “It was after reconciliation that Rs 10 lakh was excluded. However, his team failed to give a proper explanation for the remaining Rs 8 lakh. Each objection raised was discussed threadbare in the presence of the two expenditure observers. We gave them an opportunity to justify the excess spending but they could not do so. We have now submitted the final report to the state EC,” said an officer.