News Brief
ECI Report: 2024 Lok Sabha Candidates Spent Average Rs 57.23 Lakh, Tharoor Tops List With Rs 94.89 Lakh Expenditure
The Election Commission of India office in New Delhi. (Harikrishna Katragadda/Mint via Getty Images)
Candidates in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections spent an average of Rs 57.23 lakh each on their campaigns, according to an Election Atlas released by the Election Commission of India (ECI) on 12 February.
The report provides insights into campaign expenditures, voting patterns, and the growing number of political parties and candidates over the years.
Highest and Lowest Campaign Spenders
Among individual candidates, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor reported the highest expenditure, spending Rs 94.89 lakh on his election campaign. On the other hand, Trinamool Congress MP Pratima Mondal spent only Rs 12,500, making her the lowest spender.
Other high-spending candidates included:
Rahul Gandhi (Congress), who spent Rs 92.82 lakh in Wayanad.
DMK’s Ganapathy Rajkumar P., who spent Rs 92.96 lakh in Coimbatore.
Three Karnataka MPs—Sunil Bose, B Y Raghavendra, and E Tukaram—were also among the top 15 spenders.
Four MPs from Himachal Pradesh reported an average expenditure of Rs 85.46 lakh each.
Meanwhile, several candidates kept their spending low, including:
Baramulla MP Engineer Rashid, who spent just Rs 2.10 lakh.
Union Minister Kiren Rijiju, whose campaign expenses were Rs 20.67 lakh.
Rs 95 lakh for candidates in larger States like Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Maharashtra.
Rs 75 lakh for candidates in smaller States and Union Territories like Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, and Lakshadweep.
The Atlas also highlighted a sharp increase in political participation, revealing that:
The number of political parties has increased nearly 15-fold since the first general election.
The number of contesting candidates has grown five-fold, with 8,360 candidates competing in the 2024 elections.
However, 7,190 candidates forfeited their deposits, indicating low voter support for many independent and smaller party candidates.
Election Commission Assures Robust Polling System
Speaking at the Atlas launch, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar reiterated the integrity of India’s polling system, stating that it is designed to prevent errors and manipulation.
“Lakhs of officials, including booth-level officers, feed data into the system. As a design, nothing can go wrong... The system throws up red flags,” he said.
The top election official added that this makes the Election Commission “extremely confident” that nothing can wrong and that if someone makes an error, the system will not accept it.
