Bengaluru, Feb 06: In the Karnataka assembly elections, the political parties spent a whopping Rs 129.72 crore on publicity. The highest was spent on publicity, followed by travel says a report prepared by the Association for Democratic Reforms.Political parties are required to submit a statement of election expenditure to the Election Commission within 75 days of completion of Assembly Elections.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.ADR said that the election expenditure statements of JD(S), SHS, and JD(U) for Karnataka Assembly Election are unavailable on the website of the ECI.Funds Collected and Expenditure incurred by political parties:Total funds collected by 8 political parties during Karnataka Assembly Election held in 2018 was Rs 356.04 cr and total expenditure incurred was Rs 170.16 cr.BSP and AIFB had not declared any funds collected at the Central Headquarters and State Units during Karnataka Assembly Election, 2018.Funds collected by the parties at the Central Headquarters was Rs 269.94 cr and expenditure was Rs 112.144 cr. Karnataka State Units spent Rs 58.014 cr.Expenditure incurred by political parties under various heads:Political parties declare their expenditure under the heads of Publicity, Travel Expenses, Other/ Miscellaneous expenses and Lumpsum amount paid to their contesting candidates.Political Parties that contested in Karnataka Assembly Election, 2018, spent the highest, Rs 129.72 cr on Publicity, followed by Rs 30.06 cr on travel expenses, Rs 17.84 cr on Lumpsum amount paid to candidates and Rs 9.63 cr on Other/Miscellaneous expenses.Expenditure on publicity is 69.28% of the overall expenditure declared under various heads.Expenditure on travel expenses is 16.05% of the overall expenditure declared under various heads.Expenditure on Travel by political parties:The Travel head is segregated into travel expenses incurred specifically on star campaigners and that of the party leaders.Political parties spent 92.68% of their total travel expenses or Rs 27.86 cr on their star campaigners and the remaining 7.32% or Rs 2.20 cr on travel of their party leaders.Travel expenses from Central Headquarters by itself was Rs 17.52 cr or 58.28%, which was higher than Rs 12.54 cr or 41.72% spent from Karnataka State Units.JD(S) statement not available:The election expenditure statement of JDS is not yet available in the public domain despite contesting in Karnataka Assembly Election 2018 and emerging as the ruling party in the state.AIFB has not mentioned any funds collected and expenditure incurred from it Central Headquarter and State Unit in spite of contesting elections. NCP and AIADMK collected funds from the Central Headquarters and State Units respectively but 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 party headquarter.