Karwar: JD(S)-Congress coalition candidate Anand Asnotikar leads in election expenditure among the 13 candidates in the poll fray for Uttara Kannada Lok Sabha seat while Manjunath Sadashiv of Bharat Bhoomi Party (BBP) has spent least.

All the 13 candidates submitted details of the election expenses to the Election Commission. As per the information provided on April 21, Anand Asnotikar has spent Rs 46,27,245 for the elections. This apart, he has given a deposit of Rs 25,000 with the nomination paper as per the guidelines of the Election Commission. This would amount to a total expenditure of Rs 46,63,245.

BJP candidate Ananthkumar Hegde follows Asnotikar in terms of expenditure. Hegde has received Rs 40 lakh from the party towards poll expenses. As per the information provided by him to the Election Commission, he has not spent a single rupee from his pocket and his total election expenditure has not exceeded the amount provided by the party. Including the Rs 25,000 deposit, he has spent Rs 37,67,450.

Among other candidates, Manjunath Sadashiva has spent just Rs 2,000 for campaigning apart from Rs 25,000 which he has deposited with the Election authorities. Excluding the  security deposit amount, Nagaraj Shirali has spent Rs 94,690, Chidanand Harijan Rs 67,270, Sudhakar Joglekar Rs 54,818, Mohammed Jabroor Khatib Rs 30,374, Anita Shet Rs 27,930, Balkrishna Patil Rs 18,807, Rashtriya Samaj party’s Nagaraj Naik Rs 16,500, Rashtriya Janasambhavana Party’s Nagaraj Shet Rs 12,191, Kundabai Parulekar Rs 9,363 and Uttam Prajakeeya Party’s Sunil Pawar Rs 6,500.

Election Commission of India has set an upper limit of Rs 70 lakh per candidate as expenditure during campaigning for Lok Sabha election. This includes the security deposit of Rs 25,000 made by every candidate during the filing of the nomination papers. However, a candidate belonging to Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribe is required to make a security deposit of only half of the amounts (Rs 12,500) mentioned above, even in general constituency.