Ten parties spent Rs 1,406.25 crore in Uttar Pradesh during Lok Sabha polls: Report

Ten national and regional parties spent Rs 1,406.25 crore in Uttar Pradesh during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, with the BJP incurring the highest expenditure of Rs 763.31 crore or 54.27 per cent of total spending, according to a report by a private election watchdog.

The parties -- national parties BJP, Congress, BSP, NCP and CPI as well as regional parties Samajwadi Party, AAP, Shiv Sena, JD(U) and Forward Bloc -- had collected Rs 4,683.12 crore out of which Rs 68.03 crore were collected by state units of these political outfits.

Of the 1,406.25 crore, the analysis by Association for Democratic Rights (ADR), only Rs 9.141 crore was spent by the UP state units of the parties, while the rest of the expenditure was met by their central leaderships.

When it comes to spending, Congress follows BJP with a bill of Rs Rs 489.97 crore or 34.83 per cent of the total spending of ten parties. BSP's expenditure was Rs 55.39 crore or 3.94 per centm while the Samajwadi Party spent Rs 50.65 crore in the 2019 election.

Of the 80 seats, BJP won 62 seats, while BSP won ten seats. NDA ally Apna Dal won two, and Congress won one seat.

The analysis showed that Congress spent the most on publicity at Rs 402.918 crore, which was 49.55 per cent of the total expenditure of Rs 813.13 crore incurred by the ten parties on this count. BJP incurred an expenditure of Rs 376.62 crore, BSP spent Rs 11.14 crore, and SP spent Rs 5.07 crore.

Under the head of publicity, the analysis said, the parties spent the maximum on media advertisement (Rs 696.80 crore or 85.69 per cent) followed by expenditure on publicity materials (Rs 95.856 crore or 11.79 per cent) and public meetings (Rs 20.473 crore or 2.52 per cent).

Congress spent the highest on media advertisement at Rs 356.105 crore followed by BJP at Rs 327.25 crore.

When it comes to travel expenses, BJP was on top at Rs 175.95 crore, followed by Congress at Rs 86.52 crore, BSP at Rs 44.21 crore, and SP at Rs 22.55 crore.

The BJP spent the highest on travel of star campaigners at Rs 175.68 crore, followed by Congress at Rs 86.31 crore and BSP which spent Rs 44.217 crore.

The BJP and Congress were the only parties that incurred expenditure on lumpsum amount paid to candidates from their UP state units of Rs 14.96 crore and Rs 31.5 crore respectively.