New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spent nearly Rs 1,494 crore, accounting for 44.56 per cent of the total election expenditure, during the 2024 Lok Sabha election, poll rights body the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) said on Friday.
The Congress followed next with Rs 620 crore or 18.5 per cent of the total expenses among the 32 national and regional parties whose records were analysed, the ADR said.
Together, these parties spent Rs 3,352.81 crore during the Lok Sabha and simultaneous Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim between March 16 and June 6, 2024.
The national parties accounted for more than Rs 2,204 crore (65.75 per cent) of this expenditure.
“Of the total funds collected, national parties collected Rs 6,930.246 crore (93.08 per cent) while regional parties received Rs 515.32 crore (6.92 per cent),” the report said.
The analysis is based on the mandatory expenditure statements political parties are required to file with the Election Commission (EC) within 90 days of a general election and 75 days of a state poll.
The ADR also found significant delays in submissions, with the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) statement arriving 168 days late and the BJP’s after 139 to 154 days, depending on the state. Only the Congress submitted a consolidated report for both the Lok Sabha and the Assembly polls.
Publicity topped the list of expenses, with the parties spending Rs 2,008 crore, or more than 53 per cent, of their total declared expenditure on it.
Travel expenses came next at Rs 795 crore, followed by Rs 402 crore in lump-sum payments to candidates. The parties also spent over Rs 132 crore on virtual campaigns and Rs 28 crore on publishing the criminal antecedents of their candidates.
Of the total expenditure of the 32 political parties on publicity, an amount of Rs 1,511.3004 crore or 75.25 per cent was spent by the national parties and Rs 496.99 crore or 24.75 per cent was spent by the regional parties.
Travel expenses were also heavily skewed toward star campaigners. Of the Rs 795 crore spent on travel, Rs 765 crore (96.22 per cent) went toward ferrying high-profile party faces, with just Rs 30 crore spent on the other leaders.
The ADR flagged several concerns on transparency.
Statements from 21 parties, including the NCP, CPI, JMM and Shiv Sena (UBT), were unavailable on the EC’s website when the report was prepared.
The expenditure statements of the RJD, LJP(RV), AJSU, KC(M) are not available for the concerned 2024 Assembly elections contested in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Odisha.
Meanwhile, two parties, Jammu and Kashmir PDP and Kerala Congress (M), declared zero expenditure despite contesting.
The ADR noted that a total of 690 unrecognised political parties contested in the general election last year, while one in Arunachal Pradesh, 74 in Andhra Pradesh, 35 in Odisha and two in Sikkim contested in the Assembly polls held simultaneously. The expenditure statements of these parties were not analysed as part of the report.
The report said wherever possible, expenditure must be limited to transactions via cheques or DD (demand draft) or RTGS, so as to reduce the use of black money in elections in accordance with the transparency guidelines issued by the EC.
The ADR also urged the EC to appoint observers to monitor party expenditure, akin to those who track candidate spending.
PTI
