Election authorities are faced with a peculiar question. Who will pay for the MNS chief Raj Thackeray's rallies across the state in which he will campaign for the Congress and NCP? Thackeray had announced that he would stay away from contesting the polls, but will address six rallies in favour of Congress and NCP candidates.

He started his campaign on Friday from Nanded where Congressman and ex-CM Ashok Chavan is UPA's candidate. Technically, the MNS cannot be asked to submit a statement of account as per the election rules because it does not have candidates in the Lok Sabha contest, even though local MNS leaders organise the event with a display of the party's symbol and flags.