TOI reports that the Chhattisgarh Election Commission has rejected appeals filed by education minister, Brijmohan Agarwal, and Dhamtari's Congress candidate Gurmukh Singh Hora and upheld the district committee's order of adding Rs 96,350 and Rs 24,000 to their election expenditure on account of paid news. The minister and the Congress candidate had appealed against the order of the district committee after it had found several instances of paid news.