SP candidates spent the most in Assembly polls

Among the state political parties,the SP contested 401 seats and won the maximum of 224 seats. Rashtriya Lok Dal,another state-level party,which contested in alliance with Congress,fielded candidates on 46 seats and spent around Rs 3.47 crore.

Among the national parties,Congress fielded its candidates in 355 seats.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) was the only political outfit that contested all 403 Assembly seats and its candidates spent Rs 29.39 crore. The BJP contested 398 seats,won 47,and its candidates spent around Rs 26.12 crore.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) contested 127 constituencies and won only one seat. Its candidates spent Rs 1.69 crore on poll campaign.

All 51 candidates of Communist Party of India (CPI) spent Rs 61.6 lakh. The 17 candidates of Communist Party of India (Marxist) spent Rs 44.18 lakh. Both CPI and CPM failed to win any seat in UP.

Candidates have also declared the financial assistance they received from the respective parties to contest the elections.

The Election Commission had fixed the expenditure limit at Rs 16 lakh for the Assembly elections for individual candidates.

Peace Party candidate in Pilibhit Azam Mir Khan declared the maximum expenditure of 15.78 lakh,while SP’s Prempal Singh Yadav in Dataganj spent Rs 15.58 lakh,followed by Vijendra Pal Yadav of the same party in Padrauna at Rs 15.44 lakh.

The biggest spender in the Congress was its Deoband candidate Anil Kumar Tanwar who spent Rs 15.24 lakh. Only these five candidates declared their expenditure above Rs 15 lakh.

There are 29 candidates who have declared zero expenditure and 748 have not submitted their expenditure details.