CHENNAI: The Election Commission of India has detected that candidates in the fray in the bypoll-bound Pennagaram constituency have not accounted for significant portions of their election outlays in their official statements of campaign expense submitted to the ECI.

Speaking to reporters here on Tuesday, Chief Electoral Officer Naresh Gupta said the Returning Officer and the District Election Officer were instructed to assess the value of pandals, arches and cut-outs, and compare them with that of the figures of expenditure furnished by the candidates to the EC.

“As of March 19, the amount not included by candidates in their accounts is Rs 4.15 lakh for the PMK, Rs 6.22 lakh in the case of the AIADMK and Rs 6.46 lakh for the DMK,” he said.

Speaking to Express, Gupta said the PMK candidate had claimed an expenditure of Rs 1,08,637, the AIADMK nominee Rs 1,26,310 and the DMK candidate Rs 81,308.