Can RTI reveal (real) poll spending?

Three days ago, DH reported on the highest and the lowest campaign expenditure of candidates who won the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. According to the Election Commission of India (ECI)’s Election Atlas, Shashi Tharoor, the Congress MP elected from Thiruvananthapuram, spent a tad below the limit of Rs 95 lakh – the highest. The lowest figure – Rs 12,500 – was claimed by the Trinamool MP from West Bengal’s Jaynagar, Pratima Mondal. The spending limit is Rs 75 lakh in 12 constituencies spread across the smaller states and UTs. Thanks to this ceiling, the campaign expenses of all 543 winners must not cross Rs 513.45 crore. The ECI calculated the national average spend of winning candidates in 2024 at Rs 57.23 lakh.

Is this really enough to win a Lok Sabha seat? At the turn of this millennium, a Delhi-based think tank estimated that the election campaign of the top 3-4 candidates costs at least Rs 4-5 crore each. More money is required in large constituencies or if the contest is tougher. So, when contesting candidates are subject to spending limits, who foots the rest of the bill? In the first instance, political parties obviously, but there is no cap on how much they can spend.

The ECI publishes political parties’ expenditure reports after the completion of the poll process. As on date, spending figures are available for about 25 of them. The accounts of major players like the Aam Aadmi Party, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Shiromani Akali Dal and factions of the Nationalist Congress Party and the Shiv Sena are yet to be disclosed. A quick study of the expenditure reports of 20 large and small parties reveals very interesting trends.

First, they entered the hustings with more than Rs 9,066 crore. Second, between the dates of announcement of the elections and the results, they raised more than Rs 6,661 crore. Third, Bahujan Samaj Party claimed it did not raise even a paisa during this period but spent Rs 72 crore from its kitty of almost Rs 628 crore. Fourth, these 20 parties spent more than Rs 3,960 crore during this period i.e., just about 60% of the funds they raised without having to dip into the reserves they already had..

The BJP was richer by Rs 3,595 crore, its allies the TDP and the LJP-Ram Vilas party added Rs 65 crore and Rs 9.95 crore respectively to their kitty. Sikkim Democratic Front which lost the Lok Sabha elections and won only one Vidhan Sabha seat was richer by Rs 76 lakh.

I am yet to analyse the spending figures on items such as publicity materials, public meetings, processions and rallies, advertisements, and the travel of star campaigners and other leaders. The BJP spent almost Rs 169 crore on air travel-related expenses for their star campaigners such as union ministers and top-ranking party leaders. Interestingly, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s name does not figure in this list. Are his travel expenses borne by the public exchequer i.e., the taxpaying citizenry due to the constitutional post he occupies?

It is public knowledge that beyond the candidates and the sponsoring political parties, their supporters also spend money on election propaganda – particularly on messaging through social media. This is not accounted for at all in the ECI’s books. A Delhi-based media watch-dog controversially claimed that at least Rs 1.35 lakh crore were spent during the 2024 election campaign.

The truth of this claim as well as the veracity of the spending reports of the candidates and their parties can be ascertained only if certain documents and monitoring reports created under the ECI’s directions are made public. These include the list of expenditure-sensitive constituencies and pockets across the country, vulnerability mapping reports prepared by Sector Officers who are tasked with identifying specific families that are potential targets for bribery and other forms of inducement, multiple reports filed by expenditure observers at different stages of the electoral process, daily reports of flying squads, static surveillance teams, media certification and monitoring committees, and suspicious transaction reports that banks send daily to the monitoring authorities.

The ECI has stubbornly refused to disclose these documents under the RTI Act, treating them like sarkari secrets. Hopefully, later this year, if our Supreme Court decides that the political parties are covered by the RTI Act, we might be able to look into their campaign records and accounts directly. Such a right is recognised by law in Fiji where more than 37% of the citizenry is of Indian origin.