the goan I network
PANAJI
Panaji’s MLA-elect Atanasio (Babush) Monserrate, perhaps taking the cue from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, spent considerable amount of time, resources and tact to win over the constituency’s youth and first-time voters during his successful campaign in the bypoll.
Given Monserrate’s famed resourceful style of electioneering, it’s no surprise that he happens to be the one among all candidates who contested the four Assembly bypolls, to have officially spent the highest on his campaign -- Rs 7.68-odd lakh.
According to details of expenditure he submitted to the Election Commission’s expenditure observer, Monserrate spent Rs 54,000 on a campaign specifically targeting youth and first time voters. Rs 14,179 as spent on preparing and printing the list of first time voters and upwards of Rs 42,000 on printing a manifesto to catch the young minds. About 30 percent, approximately Rs 2,21,640, of his total expenditure was spent on advertisements on various media platforms, including radio.
Meanwhile, Goa Suraksha Manch candidate Subhash Velingkar has declared an expenditure of Rs 3,48,062 and the BJP candidate Sidharth Kuncaliencar has claimed spending around Rs 1.35 lakh.
Aam Aadmi Party’s Valmiki Naik has submitted an account of having spent Rs 1.8-odd lakh on his election campaign. In the Mandrem constituency, the winning BJP candidate Dayanand Sopte has spent Rs 2.4 lakh, while the runner-up, Independent Jeet Arolkar spent Rs 46,448 on their respective election campaigns. Babi Bagkar of the Congress has submitted that he spent Rs 97,828.
In Mapusa, independent candidate Ashish Shirodkar who lost his deposit spent Rs 4.3-odd lakh on the campaign while MLA-elect Joshua De Souza of the BJP spent a little over half that amount - Rs 2,3-lakh.
Congress candidate Sudhir Kandolkar who ended a close runner-up in Mapusa, said he spent around Rs 1.8 lakh in his expenditure statement to the EC observer.
GSM’s Nandan Sawant spent 80,183, in the same constituency while the by-election cost the NCP’s Sanjay Barde Rs 38,838. AAP candidate Shekhar Naik said he spent around Rs 1.08 lakh.
Interestingly, Sudesh Asotikar an Indpendent who was also in the fray for Mapusa, has included Rs 100, the cost for case paper for admission at the District hospital, for the treatment received by his election agent, in his expenditure statement.
Down south in Shiroda, the Election Commission’s expenditure observer had raised queries regarding some bill submitted by the Congress candidate Mahadev Naik who later clarified and complied.
His expenditure statement, however, is not very clear in the papers he has submitted.
The MGP’s Deepak Dhavlikar who lost by a wafer-thin 76-vote margin has claimed to have officially spent around Rs 1.17 lakh on the entire election campaign while the eventual winner, BJP’s Subhash Shirodkar has submitted an expenditure statement aggregating Rs 2.13 lakh.
