Bengaluru, Dec 15
THE BJP spent Rs 196.7 crore on fighting the Karnataka Assembly elections earlier this year, over 43% higher than the Congress expenditure of Rs 136.90 crore, according to the parties’ expenditure reports submitted to the Election Commission.
Of the total spending of Rs 196.70 crore, the BJP declared Rs 149.36 crore as expenditure on general party propaganda and Rs 47.33 crore as expenditure on candidates. The party spent the most on advertisements — print, electronic, bulk messages, websites and TV channels — at Rs 78.10 crore. The report, published by the EC on Thursday, also has details of payments for advertisements to TV channels, newspapers, Facebook, Google and WhatsApp. Travel expenses on star campaigners and other leaders incurred by the BJP state unit amounted to Rs 37.64 crore, while the central office spent Rs.8.05 crore on travel of leaders. The party headquarters also spent Rs 5.90 lakh on a “survey” from March 29 to May 15. Polling in Karnataka was held on May 10 and the votes were counted on May 13. Of the amount spent on candidates, the majority (Rs 34 crore) went to candidates in the form of lump sum payments. The party also spent Rs 2.93 crore on publicity of criminal antecedents of candidates. The Congress party, which won the state elections, spent a total of Rs 136.90 crore — Rs 79.44 crore on general party propaganda and Rs 45.6 crore on candidates — as per its expenditure report published by the EC in September. In the 2018 Karnataka Assembly elections campaign, the BJP had spent Rs 122.68 crore, while the Congress had spent Rs 34.48 crore. The BJP spent 60% more this time compared to 2018; the Congress’ spending went up by nearly 300% from five years ago.
