New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spent Rs 1,737.68 crore on contesting the 2024 Lok Sabha elections—more than the expenditure of at least seven opposition parties combined, according to an expenditure report released by the Election Commission (EC) on Thursday.
Overall, BJP’s expenditure rose by 37 percent, up from Rs 1,264.33 crore in 2019. The ruling party spent Rs 1,492.39 crore on general party propaganda, and Rs 245.29 crore on the 441 candidates it fielded.
In comparison, the Congress spent a combined expenditure of Rs 686.19 crore on the 2024 general elections and assembly polls in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim in 2024. It spent Rs 66 crore on the 328 candidates it fielded, and around Rs 620 crore on the general party propaganda. Its expenditure dipped by 16.4 percent, from the Rs 820.89 crore it spent on the 2019 polls.
The All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)—the ruling parties in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu—spent Rs 147 crore and Rs 145 crore, respectively, in the last year’s general elections.
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The Samajwadi Party (SP) spent Rs 48 crore on the general elections and state polls in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha, and Sikkim.
In contrast, the expenditure of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the All India Forward Bloc, and the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party stood at around Rs 25 crore, Rs 33 lakh, and around Rs 16.88 lakh, respectively.
Collectively, these seven opposition parties spent around Rs 1,051.6 crore on contesting the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
According to the EC instructions, political parties have to file their election expenditure within 90 days of completion of the Lok Sabha elections, and within 75 days of completion of Legislative Assembly polls.
“We regret the delay in the submission of the information,” BJP’s expenditure statement says.
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Spending on Google, Facebook, sarees
For the BJP, a significant chunk of its expenditure— Rs 611.50 crore— was spent on advertisement. Out of this amount, it paid Rs 156.95 crore to Google India Pvt Ltd between April and June, and Rs 24.63 crore to Facebook between March and June.
In addition, the party’s central brass spent Rs 55.75 crore on publicity materials such as posters, banners, badges, stickers, arches, gates, cutouts, hoardings, flags, sarees and wristbands. It spent another Rs 1.79 crore on ‘Namo stalls’, Rs 1.19 crore on a ‘media audit’, and another Rs 19.5 crore on two ‘surveys’.
The travel expenses of its star campaigners came to Rs 168.92 crore from the party headquarters. These included aircraft expenses for star campaigners including Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president J.P. Nadda, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, among others.
The Congress party headquarters spent around Rs 104.42 crore on the travel expenses of its star campaigners, including its chief Mallikarjun Kharge, former chief Rahul Gandhi, and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. In addition, the party headquarters spent Rs 409 crore on media advertisements, including print and electronic advertisements, bulk SMSes and TV ads. On publicity materials like caps, flags, posts, and ‘Nyay guarantee cards, the bill came to another Rs 68 lakh.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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