Political parties that brought star campaigners to the State during the fiercely fought Assembly elections in May 2018, have spent a substantial sum on their travel. While the role of star campaigners in the final poll outcome is debatable, as much as 93% of the total travel expenditure reported by parties was spent on them.

The parties incurred ₹30.06 crore as travel expenditure during the month-long campaigning that brought Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah, Congress president Rahul Gandhi, a host of Chief Ministers from across the country, and film actors, among others, as campaigners. As much as ₹27.86 crore was spent on star campaigners.

The remaining 7.32% (₹2.2 crore) was spent on the travel of their party leaders.

This is shown by an analysis by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch on ‘Funds Collected and Expenditure Incurred by Political Parties: Karnataka Assembly Election, 2018.’

While ADR considered six national parties and seven regional parties for the overall analysis, it said that the total funds of ₹356 crore collected and expenditure incurred of ₹170.16 crore was for eight political parties. The total travel expenses was nearly 16.02% of the total ₹170.16 crore spent and reported by parties to the Election Commission, ADR said.

Among others, the parties spent ₹129.72 crore or 69.28% of the total expenditure on publicity, ₹17.84 crore on the funds were given to candidates and ₹9.63 crore on miscellaneous expenses. In terms of funds collected, the parties at the central headquarters collected ₹269.94 crore and spent ₹112.144 crore, while Karnataka State units spent ₹58.014 crore.

BJP president Amit Shah, along with State unit president B.S. Yeddyurappa and party leaders, taking part in a road show in Gokak during the sixth round of his visit to the poll-bound State on Friday.  

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

JD(S) statement not available

Interestingly, the expenditure statements of the Janata Dal (Secular), now part of the ruling coalition, are not available. “The expenditure statement of the JD(S) is not available in public domain despite contesting in the Assembly elections in 2018 and emerging as the ruling party,” the ADR observed.

Similar is the case with Shiv Sena and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United). In the case of BSP and AIFB, the parties have not declared any funds collected at the central headquarters and State units during Assembly elections. NCP and AIADMK, which collected funds from the central headquarters and State units, respectively, too have not shown any expenditure incurred in their statements. The expenditure statement of CPI does not provide any information about the breakup of general party propaganda expenses incurred by the party headquarters.