BJP collected, spent the most during Lok Sabha polls, Congress ranks second

Ruling BJP collected Rs 4,057.40 crore and spent Rs 1,371,82 crore -- the highest among parties during the Lok Sabha elections last year followed by its main rival Congress, which spent Rs 820.88 crore after collecting Rs 1,167.14 crore, according to a report prepared by a private election watchdog.

Analysing the statements provided by 32 parties, including seven national parties, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) said these parties together collected Rs Rs 6405.59 crore and spent Rs 2591.39 crore during the Lok Sabha elections as well as the simultaneous Assembly elections for – Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim.

Parties are mandated to submit expenditure statements with Election Commission about the money received as funds in the form of cash, cheques and demand drafts and the total amount spent under various heads -- publicity, travel expenses, expenditure towards candidates and others expenses. Parties have to submit details of collection and expenditure between the announcement of polls and its completion.

YSR Congress followed BJP and Congress in the list to Rs 221.58 crore while Trinamool Congress got Rs 141.09 crore and TDP Rs 131.33 crore. When it comes to spending, BJD (which collected Rs 74.7 crore) was third with its expenditure running into Rs 193.73 crore followed by YSR Congress Rs 85.65 crore and DMK (which collected Rs 50.30 crore) spent Rs 79.26 crore.

The expenditure for publicity was the highest at Rs Rs 1495.41 crore, which was 49.94% of the total spending, followed by Rs 567.19 crore on travel expenses, Rs 528.94 crore on money paid to candidates and Rs 399.03 crore on miscellaneous expenses. Political parties also spent Rs 3.59 crore (0.12%) on publishing criminal antecedents of their contesting candidates.

BJP incurred the maximum expenditure, Rs 651.64 crore under Publicity, which forms 43.58% of the total expenditure incurred by all political parties on publicity while Congress spent Rs 476.83 crore on this count.

Of the 651.64 crore spent by BJP for publicity, Rs 488.33 crore was spent on media advertisements and Rs 90.25 crore for publicity material. On its part, Congress spent Rs 411.93 crore. BJD is another party which spent big (Rs 71.26 crore) on media advertisements.

Among the national parties, NCP spent Rs 26.54 crore on media advertisements out of its Rs 36.48 crore it spent on publicity. Trinamool Congress spent Rs 20.88 crore on media advertisements out of Rs 22.67 crore on publicity. CPI(M) spent Rs 5.91 crore on media advertisements while it spent Rs 12.95 crore on publicity material.

BJP spent Rs 258 crore for travel of its leaders, including Rs 253.49 crore on transporting its star campaigners. Congress spent Rs 127.1 crore for star campaigners' travel while it spent just Rs 66 lakh on others.