Modi's election expenditure in Vadodara stood at Rs 50 lakh

Prime Minister Narendra Modi incurred a total poll expenditure of a little over Rs 50 lakh in Vadodara, one of the two Lok Sabha seats from where he contested and won.

Modi's campaign-related expenses stood at Rs 50,03,598, according to the accounts submitted to the Election Commission office in Vadodara on Friday by Vadodara Mayor Bharat Shah who was in-charge of the BJP leader's poll expenditure for Vadodara.

According to the details submitted with EC, a major part of the expenses (Rs 25.80 lakh) went towards organising two meetings during Modi's visit to the city -- first on April 9 for filing his nomination paper and on May 16 (counting day) when he held a victory meet after winning the seat by a huge margin of 5.70 lakh votes.

"I went to Delhi on Thursday to get signatures of Modiji on documents (related to expenses) which were submitted to election authorities last evening," Shah told PTI.

Shah said he had a 25-minute meeting with Modi at his residence during which the prime minister enquired about Vadodara and the ongoing development projects in the city.

"Modiji remains attached to the city and he discussed issues related to Vadodara's development," the Mayor said.

Modi's nearest rival, Madhusudhan Mistry of Congress, in his submission, showed an expenditure of Rs 34.39 lakh.

Modi, who also won from Varanasi, later vacated Vadodara.

Meanwhile, Shailesh Amin, spokesman of Vadodara city Congress, said "we will thoroughly examine Modi's accounts to ensure that all expenses were included."

Earlier this year, EC raised poll expenditure limit by candidates from Rs 40 lakh to Rs 70 lakh for each Lok Sabha constituency in bigger states and from Rs 22 lakh to Rs 54 lakh in smaller states.

Image: Narendra Modi after voting in Gandhinagar