Sunny Deol's election expenditure surpasses statutory limit of Rs 70 lakh

Chandigarh: The poll expenditure of Gurdaspur lawmaker and actor Sunny Deol has been found exceeding the statutory limit of Rs 70 lakh, an election official said on Saturday.

"The District Election Office of Gurdaspur has sent the final report of poll expenditure to the Election Commission of India," he said.

According to the report, the poll expenditure of Deol was found to be Rs 78,51,592, that is, Rs 8.51 lakh more than the statutory limit of Rs 70 lakh sanctioned for parliamentary elections.

The election expenditure of Congress candidate Sunil Jakhar, who lost to Deol in the recent Lok Sabha polls, was Rs 61,36,058 which is within the prescribed limit, the official said.

The officials said Deol can contest the poll expenditure report sent by the District Election Officer.

Notably, Deol is the only candidate so far whose expenditure was found way above the limit of Rs 70 lakh, they said.

The Gurdaspur District Election Officer-cum-Deputy Commissioner had sent a notice to Deol last month, asking the 59-year-old actor to explain his poll expenditure.

Deol defeated Jakhar by a margin of 82,459 votes.

Earlier, late actor Vinod Khanna represented the Gurdaspur constituency in 1998, 1999, 2004 and 2014.