Narendra Modi spent only Rs 40,000 on advertisements in his Vadodara campaign, Sonia Gandhi got no corporate donations, Arvind Kejriwal spent none of his own money and Nandan Nilekani spent only his own money: these are some of the insights from The Hindu’s analysis of election expenditure statements submitted by candidates to the Election Commission.
The EC requires all candidates who contest elections to declare their expenses within 30 days of the date of the result. The Hindu’s analysis of the statements of ten leading candidates in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from their respective state websites shows that Mr. Modi spent over Rs 50 lakh on his Vadodara campaign and Rs 38 lakh on his Varanasi campaign, where he was outspent by the Aam Aadmi Party’s losing candidate Arvind Kejriwal who spent over Rs 50 lakh. Congress President Sonia Gandhi spent Rs 31 lakh on her Rae Bareli campaign and Rahul Gandhi spent Rs 39 lakh.
Most leading candidates claimed to have been nearly fully funded by their parties, with two notable exceptions; Nandan Nilekani, the richest candidate, who contested Bangalore South on a Congress ticket and lost, said that the source of all the Rs 70 lakh he raised was his own money, and Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav raised Rs 45 lakhs of his own money for his Mainpuri campaign. For his Azamgarh campaign, he took Rs 50 lakh from the party instead.
Congress spokesperson Sandeep Dikshit and BJP spokesperson Nalin Kohli both told The Hindu that for top candidates including the Gandhis and Mr Modi respectively, the party spent on their campaigns.
Both of Mr. Modi’s campaigns report small contributions from “corporates or individuals” of Rs 5 lakh and Rs 11 lakh respectively. Neither expense statement names the sources of these contributions.
Mr. Modi spent Rs 40,000 on advertisements in Vadodara and Rs 3.7 lakh on ads in his Varanasi campaign, the statements say. Mrs. Gandhi spent nothing on ads while Mr. Gandhi spent Rs 68,000, all of it on SMSes, their statements claim. Both party spokespersons said that advertisements for top candidates tended to be paid for by the party and not the candidate, and would be part of the party election statements they are required to submit to the EC by August 16.
Mr. Modi spent Rs 3.2 lakh on tea for his Vadodara campaign, NCP leader Supriya Sule spent Rs 2 lakh on automated phone calls, Mr. Kejriwal hired 200 vehicles for his campaign and Mrs. Gandhi spent Rs 15,000 on flowers, the statements show.
