The total funds collected by five political parties during this year's Delhi Assembly polls was nearly Rs 50 crore, while the expenditure incurred was Rs 34.32 crore, including over Rs 22 crore on media advertisements, according to a report by election rights group Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
In a statement issued on Thursday, the ADR said the political parties spent the maximum amount (Rs 22.702 crore) on media advertisements, followed by expenditure on publicity material (Rs 8.058 crore) and public meetings (Rs 28 lakh).
The poll rights group said the parties spent 51.91 per cent of their total travel expenses or Rs 68,000 on their star campaigners and Rs 63,000 on other leaders.
"LJP declared no expenditure incurred despite contesting the elections. Despite incurring zero expenditure, the election expenditure statement of the party was available after a delay of 145 days," it said.
The ADR recommended that it must be made mandato ry for all political parties to submit their statements of expenditure in the format given by the Election Commission of India (ECI) within the prescribed time limit and the parties not submitting the same on time or in the prescribed format should be heavily penalised.
"Where possible, expenditure must be limited to transactions via cheque/DD/RTGS so as to reduce the use of black money in elections, as per the transparency guidelines issued by the ECI," the ADR said.
In the polls held in February, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won 62 seats in the 70-member Delhi Assembly, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) bagged the remaining eight. The Congress drew a blank for the second consecutive time.