Source: 
Author: 
Date: 
16.04.2015
City: 
New Delhi

The Aam Aadmi Party collected a whopping Rs 20 crore as funds in the 2013 Assembly elections when it formed the government for 49 days, said election watchdog Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and the National Election Watch.

The funds of the AAP formed 91 per cent of the total amount collected by all the national and regional parties that contested the 2013 Delhi Assembly polls, according to the data submitted by them to the Election Commission of India.

Many parties including AAP, BJP and Congress, contesting the 2013 elections, missed the deadline to submit the election expenditure statements to  ECI.

The ECI received the AAP expenditure statement AAP on April 6, 2015, while the BJP submitted its statement on December 31, 2014, 10 months after the due date.

“As AAP was an unrecognised party at the time of contesting the 2013 Delhi Assembly elections, it was not mandatory for the party to submit its expenditure statement,” the NGO said in its report.

While AAP received Rs 20.75 crore, the national and regional parties that contested the 2013 Delhi Assembly elections collected a total of Rs 22.72 crore. The BJP collected Rs 27.7 lakh.

The parties’ received most of their funding through cheques or demand drafts, according to their statement to the Election Commission.

In all, AAP collected Rs 20.4 crore by cheque, Rs 67.75 lakh in cash and Rs 3.35 lakh in kind. BJP collected Rs 21.1 lakh in cash and Rs 6.60 lakh by cheque or demand draft.

The main heads under which political parties declared their expenses are publicity, travel, miscellaneous and expenditure on candidates. The AAP spent the maximum amount of over Rs 17 crore on candidates, over Rs 7 crore on publicity and Rs 1.7 crore on other expenses.

The BJP declared that it spent Rs 2.6 crore on publicity and Rs 52.12 lakh on other expenses. The party said it has not incurred any expenditure under ‘travel expenses’ or ‘towards candidates’ during the Assembly Elections in 2013.

“Both AAP and BJP declared that they did not incur any expenditure on travel,” the report said.

© Association for Democratic Reforms
Privacy And Terms Of Use
Donation Payment Method