Rs 573 crore spent on 5 state polls: Check tables

The maximum difference in expenditure between National and regional parties was on the amount the parties had given to their contesting candidates.

Political parties spent Rs 573.24 crore on the assembly elections held in the five states of Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.

The West Bengal state units of parties spent Rs 110.62 crore while the BJP and Congress spend Rs 230.77 crore and Rs 57.2 crore on the candidates.

Political parties are required to submit a statement of election expenditure to the Election Commission within 75 days of completion of Assembly Elections.

Mandatory to submit

The expenditure statement contains details of the total amount received as funds in the form of cash, cheques and demand drafts and the total amount spent under various heads.

The expenditure statement contains information on the amount spent on the following heads at the state, district and constituency levels by the party: Publicity; Travel expenses; Other expenses and Expenditure towards candidates.

Political parties submit these statements providing information of funds collected and spent between announcement and completion of elections. This period could be between 3 weeks to 3 months based on the notification issued by the Election Commission.

Five states

This report analyses the funds received and expenditure incurred by recognised political parties, during the five state Assembly elections of Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, held in 2016.

Funds collected

Total funds collected by the National Parties during the five state Assembly Elections held in 2016 was Rs 287.89 cr and total expenditure incurred by the National Parties was Rs 188.12 cr.

Regional parties

Of the 25 regional parties which contested in the five state assembly elections, NPP, JDS, RSP, KCM, DMDK, RJD, JKNPP, AJSU and JMM have not submitted their election expenditure statements for at least one Assembly election that they contested.

Based on the details provided, the Regional Parties collected a total of Rs 67.22 cr and incurred an expenditure of Rs 213.97 cr.

State-wise total funds collected

The election expenditure reports of political parties contain information on the funds collected at the Central Headquarters of the party as well as at the state level.

The National and Regional parties collected a total of Rs 190.23 cr at the Central level, in cash and by cheque. This constituted 53.57% of the total funds collected at the Central and State levels.

Among the state units, the political parties collected the maximum amount of Rs 84.30 cr from West Bengal which formed 23.74% of the total funds collected at the state and central levels.

Most preferred payment mode

The most preferred mode of collected was by cheque where the parties collected Rs 197.32 cr which formed 55.57% of the total funds collected at the state and central levels.

State-wise expenditure incurred

Out of total expenditure of Rs 402.09 cr, 75.32% or Rs 302.86 cr was spent by cheque while the National and Regional parties, together, had left Rs 75.93 cr ‘remaining unpaid' which formed 18.88% of the total expenditure.

Similar to fund collection, the Central headquarters of the National and Regional parties spent the maximum (Rs 217.64 cr) and the second highest amount was declared by the Tamil Nadu state units (Rs 79 cr) followed by West Bengal state units (Rs 57.76 cr) and Kerala state units (Rs 31.01 cr).

Expenditure incurred by National and Regional Parties

Political parties declare their expenditure under the heads of Publicity, Travel Expenses, Other/ Miscellaneous expenses and Lumpsum amount paid to their contesting candidates.

The National Parties spent a total of Rs 137.46 cr on Publicity while the Regional Parties declared a total of Rs 119.33 cr under the same head.

While National Parties spent Rs 51.04 cr on Travel expenses, the Regional Parties incurred Rs 23.46 cr under the same head.

The maximum difference in expenditure between National and regional parties was on the amount the parties had given to their contesting candidates. While National Parties declared giving Rs 151.65 cr to their candidates for election expenditure, the regional parties spent only Rs 60.89 cr on their candidates.

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