The BJP accounted for more than half of the expenditure incurred by 10 political parties in Uttar Pradesh in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, according to a report released on Thursday by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
The report analysed the expenditure statements submitted to the Election Commission of India (ECI) by five national parties – the BJP, the Congress, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Communist Party of India (CPI) – and five regional parties – the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the All-India Forward Bloc (AIFB), the Janata Dal (United) (JD-U), the Shiv Sena (SHS) and the Samajwadi Party (SP).
The national parties spent a total of ₹1,309.846 crore and the SP, SHS and AAP ₹96.68 crore, while the JD(U) and the AIFB declared that they did not incur any expenditure though they did contest the polls, the ADR report said.
The highest expenditure was incurred by the BJP, which spent ₹763.31 crore or 54.27% of the total spending by the parties analysed. The Congress spent ₹489.97 crore or 34.83%, followed by the BSP, which spent ₹55.39 crore or 3.94%.
“More than 99% of the political parties’ total expenditure was spent from the central headquarters of the political parties. In the case of the BSP, the SP, the AAP and the NCP, no expenditure was incurred by parties from their State units,” the report said.
Publicity expenditure
The parties analysed in the report declared that they spent the most on publicity (₹813.13 crore), followed by travel expenses (₹341.68 crore), other/miscellaneous expenses (₹241.95 crore) and lumpsum payments to candidates (₹64.08 crore).
The Congress spent the most on publicity (₹402.91 crore), followed by the BJP (₹376.62 crore).
Meanwhile, the national parties declared they collected a total of ₹4,529.56 crore and the regional parties, except the AIFB which declared zero funds received, declared ₹153.56 crore.
“The BJP collected the highest funds during the parliamentary elections 2019 of Rs 3,682.06 crore or 78.62%, followed by the Congress, which collected Rs. 843.92 crore or 18.02% and the SHS, which collected 2.15% or ₹100.595 crore of the total funds collected by the 10 parties analysed. More than 98% of the political parties’ total funds were collected from the central headquarters. In the case of the SP, the NCP, the BSP and the JD(U), no funds were collected from parties’ State units,” the report said.
Flagging the delays in submitting expenditure statements, the ADR report recommended that the parties should be penalised for not submitting the documents on time.
The expenditure statements, which are supposed to be submitted to the ECI within 90 days of completion of the Lok Sabha polls, was submitted after a delay of 85 days by the BJP and 66 days by the Congress, the ADR report noted.
