A Facebook page titled 'Fans of Sunny Deol' costs the actor-turned-politician and BJP candidate from Punjab's Gurdaspur seat Rs 174,644 and this amount was included in his poll expenditure, it was announced on Wednesday.

Acting on the complaint of the Congress on May 6, Chief Electoral Officer S. Karuna Raju said an inquiry was conducted by a Nodal Officer of the Media Certification and Monitoring Committee of Gurdaspur.

A notice was also served on the admin of 'Fans of Sunny Deol' page and the BJP candidate to seek their explanation, but both failed to reply within the timeframe.

He said the monitoring committee decided to add Rs 174,644 to the expenditure of Deol.

Complainant Himanshu Pathak, who is the Congress vice-president, said Deol had not given information about this social media page to the Election Commission, which is mandatory.

He said the page was created on Facebook on April 30, through which lakhs of rupees were being spent on Deol's social media campaign.

Deol, 62, is a Bharatiya Janata Party-Akali Dal alliance candidate from Gurdaspur, the seat represented four times by yesteryear actor Vinod Khanna, who passed away due to cancer in April 2017.

--IANS

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