By IANS,
Raipur : Several candidates for the April 16 elections in Chhattisgarh say their campaign has been hit hard by fund shortage.
A few of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates say they have been asked to exercise restraint vis-a-vis expenditure as the party will not be able to provide enough money for a comprehensive campaign.
The crunch has hit the Congress the most because its candidates have received less than 50 percent of the first instalment of money promised by the party.
“The party has provided enough election material such as pamphlets, banners and posters but made a heavy cut in cash money citing fund crunch and economic slowdown. It has affected the campaign in a big way,” a Congress state leader told IANS seeking anonymity.
The Communist Party of India (CPI) said that fund constraint was one of the reasons it was contesting from only one constituency, Bastar.
CPI national executive member C.R. Bakshi said: “The entire campaign expenditure in the state is based on collections from party members. We have hired just 10-12 vehicles for the whole of Bastar.”
Former BJP Lok Sabha member P.R. Khunte, now president of the Chhattisgarh Vikas Party and a candidate from Raipur, said: “I don’t have money even for banners and posters. You can blame it on the economic slowdown.”