Big spenders: Election expenses cross Rs 6,500 crore, shows data

An audit data reveals that in the 2015-2020 period, the BJP spent over Rs 2,000 crore of its total election expenditure on advertisements and publicity alone

More than Rs 6,500 crore was spent on elections by 18 political parties, including seven national parties and 11 regional parties, between 2015 and 2020, shows an analysis of the annual audit reports of political parties submitted to the Election Commission of India. Of this, political parties spent more than Rs 3,400 crore, or 52.3 per cent, on publicity alone.

Audit reports show that when it comes to election expenditure, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spent 56 per cent (over Rs 3,600 crore) of the total election outlay by all 18 parties in five years and the Indian National Congress (INC) spent 21.41 per cent (over Rs 1,400 crore). This means that of the 18 parties, the BJP and the INC accounted for more than 77 per cent of the total five-year expenditure on elections. Next on the list, by a huge margin, are Samajwadi Party (3.95 per cent), Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (3.06 per cent), Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (2.17 per cent), Bahujan Samaj Party (2.04 per cent), and Trinamool Congress (1.83 per cent).

Given that the Congress government in Punjab and the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh have launched a huge publicity blitz ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections, it is interesting that parties spent a lion’s share on their election expenditure on publicity.

An audit data reveals that in the 2015-2020 period, the BJP spent 54.87 per cent (over Rs 2,000 crore) of its total election expenditure on advertisements and publicity alone, compared to 15.29 per cent on travel, 11.25 per cent as financial assistance to candidates, and around 7.2 per cent (Rs 260 crore) on morchas, rallies, and andolans.

Similarly, the Congress, in the five-year period, spent 40.08 per cent (Rs 560 crore) of the total election expenditure on election-related publicity and 17.47 per cent (Rs 250 crore) on travel during polls.