Remember how this March Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said no to contesting the Lok Sabha polls, saying she could not afford it. The popular perception is that to fight a Lok Sabha or Assembly election, you need vast sums of money and ritzy campaigns. But candidates in Kashmir are showing the way in frugal electioneering.

Grassroots support

On average, candidates in the Valley have spent just between ₹15 lakh and ₹25 lakh, relying more on grassroots support.

Take the Shopian Assembly constituency, where Raja Waheed is contesting on behalf of Engineer Rashid’s Awami Ittehad Party. Waheed launched a boisterous campaign with dozens of his supporters on bikes and cars, following his modest cavalcade of two-three vehicles. He used buntings, flags and banners to spread his message in various pockets of the constituency.

However, according to Waheed, his campaign cost about ₹6-7 lakh. He said his supporters arranged their own vehicles and motorcycles to hit the campaign trail.

Modest spend

businessline spoke to several candidates of constituencies that voted in the first phase of polling, on September 18. All of them said their campaigns were quite frugal.

In 2022, the Election Commission of India raised the ceiling of election expenditure for both Lok Sabha and Assembly polls, from a range of ₹54-70 lakh to ₹75-90 lakh for the former and from ₹20-28 lakh to ₹28-40 lakh for the latter.

But, most candidates in Kashmir are not even remotely close to the amount mentioned.

National Conference leader Basheer Ahmad Veeri, who contested from the Srigufwara-Bijbehara seat, said he spent about ₹15-17 lakh. Veeri attributed the low campaign costs to the fact that workers and supporters mostly used their own transport.

Jamaat-e-Islami-backed Talat Majeed, who contested from the Pulwama Assembly seat, told businessline that he spent around ₹2-2.5 lakh.

“My workers arranged refreshment and fuel for vehicles out of their own pockets,” he said.

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