Explained: How much political parties spent on publicity in last 5 years

South Indian parties were among the biggest spenders: Their average annual expenditure on elections was the highest

More than Rs 6,500 crore or Rs 65.641 billion was spent on elections by 18 political parties, including seven national parties and 11 regional parties, between 2015 and 2020,  an analysis of the annual audit reports of the political parties submitted to the Election Commission of India.
 
Of this, the political parties spent more than Rs 34 billion or 52.3% on publicity alone.
 
But regional parties were not far behind. Unsurprisingly, South Indian parties – the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), the Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (ADMK), the Andhra Pradesh-based YSR Congress and the Karnataka-based Janata Dal Secular (JDS)