Parties spent 33% on publicity during polls in India's 2022 Assembly elections: ADR Report

LUCKNOW: The political parties that contested the 2022 Assembly elections in Goa, Manipur, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, spent 33.9 per cent of the overall expenditure on publicity.

According to a report prepared and released by the Association for Democratic Reforms, the parties spent Rs 232.882 crore on publicity, followed by Rs 205.144 crore on amount paid to candidates, Rs 138.618 crore on travel expenses, Rs 56.751 crore on other/miscellaneous expenses, Rs 29.568 crore on expenses on virtual campaign through social media platforms/Apps/other means by party and Rs 23.368 crore on expenditure incurred on publishing criminal antecedents of the candidate(s). The National political parties considered in this report are BJP, Congress, BSP, NCP, AITC and CPI. The regional parties considered are CPI(ML)(L), AAP, RLD, SAD, Shiv Sena, AIMIM and NPF.

Political parties declare their expenditure under the heads of publicity, travel expenses, other/ miscellaneous expenses, lumpsum amount paid to their contesting candidates, expenditure incurred on publishing criminal antecedents of the candidate(s) and expenses on virtual campaign through social media platforms/Apps/other means by party.

According to the report, total funds collected by 13 political parties during Goa, Manipur, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand Assembly elections held in 2022, was Rs 1441.797 crore and total expenditure incurred was Rs 470.101 crore.

The funds collected by the parties at the central headquarters was Rs 1209.598 crore and expenditure was Rs 284.92 crore.

Uttar Pradesh state unit spent Rs 73.238 crore, Punjab unit spent Rs 33.95 crore, Uttarakhand spent Rs 33.678 crore, Manipur spent Rs 22.495 crore while Goa spent Rs 21.82 crore.

The political parties in these five states spent the maximum on media advertisement (Rs 182.6875 crore), followed by expenditure on publicity materials (Rs 39.7645 crore) and public meetings (Rs 10.43 crore).

The election expenditure statements of CPM, NPEP, SP, AIFB, IUML, JDU, LJSP, Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), GFP, MGP, RSP are not available in the public domain despite contesting elections, with a total delay of more than four months.

It must be noted that out of 13 political parties analysed in this report, only SAD declared donations through electoral bonds worth Rs 50 lakh in their election expenditure statement for the Assembly polls 2022. (IANS)

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