A recent report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has revealed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spent the most in the 2024 Lok Sabha and simultaneous state elections, with an expenditure of ₹1,494 crore, which is 44.56% of the total. The Congress followed with ₹620 crore, accounting for 18.5% of the total. In all, 32 national and regional political parties spent ₹3,352.81 crore during the elections held between March 16 and June 6, 2024, in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha, and Sikkim. National parties alone spent over ₹2,204 crore, making up nearly 66% of the total spending. In terms of funds raised, national parties collected ₹6,930 crore (93%) while regional parties raised ₹515 crore (7%).
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Publicity and campaigning were the biggest expenses, with parties spending ₹2,008 crore—over 53% of the total declared expenditure—on promotional activities. Travel expenses were the second-highest cost, totaling ₹795 crore, with ₹765 crore spent on transporting star campaigners and just ₹30 crore on other campaigners. Additionally, ₹402 crore was given as lump-sum payments to candidates, ₹132 crore was spent on virtual campaigns, and ₹28 crore went toward publishing candidates’ criminal backgrounds.
Despite clear Election Commission (EC) guidelines requiring expenditure reports within 90 days of a general election and 75 days for state elections, many parties submitted their reports late. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) delayed its report by 168 days, and the BJP submitted its reports 139 to 154 days late. The Congress was the only party to submit a full, consolidated report on time.
ADR also noted that reports from 21 parties, including the NCP, CPI, JMM, and Shiv Sena (UBT), were missing from the EC’s website. Several others, like the RJD, LJP (Ram Vilas), AJSU Party, and Kerala Congress (M), did not submit data for state elections. Interestingly, two parties—Jammu and Kashmir People’s Democratic Party and Kerala Congress (M)—declared zero expenditure despite participating in the polls. The report excluded data from 690 unrecognised political parties that contested the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, as they had not submitted expenditure statements.
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To promote transparency, ADR has recommended that all election-related transactions be made via cheque, demand draft, or RTGS to curb the use of black money. It also urged the Election Commission to appoint observers to monitor the spending of political parties, as it currently does for individual candidates.
