The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ran a campaign bill of Rs 712 crore in the 2014 general elections - while the Congress, which faced a historic defeat, spent Rs 486.21 crore to oil its poll machinery.
The expenditure details of the political parties were compiled in a study by the National Election Watch.
It said that funds collected by the national political parties increased by a whopping 418 per cent in the past 10 years.
The 2014 Lok Sabha polls witnessed one of the most extensive campaigns carried out by any leader, with Narendra Modi travelling over three lakh km across the length and breadth of the country
The BJP ran a campaign bill of Rs 712 crore in the 2014 general elections while the Congress, which faced a historic defeat, spent Rs 486.21 crore
The BJP, which came to power with a handsome majority in last year’s parliamentary polls, declared that it collected Rs 588.45 crore in the run-up to the hustings.
The significant jump in the funding was first seen between the 2004 and the 2009 general elections when the Congress had returned to power at the Centre.
Increasing funds
Total funds collected by all the national political parties during the Lok Sabha elections held in 2004 was Rs 223.80 crore while it increased by 282 per cent to Rs 854.89 crore when polls were conducted five years later.
The funding of political parties increased by 35.53 per cent from Rs 854.89 crore in 2009 to Rs 1,158.59 crore in 2014 general elections.
The poll expenditure jumped in recent years as over a period of 10 years, as the spending by national political parties during the Lok Sabha elections went up 386 per cent, with the BJP declaring the highest amount of expenditure of Rs 712.48 crore in 2014.
The majority of the expenditure was incurred on publicity.
The saffron party was ahead of all the parties in spending money on promotional activities across the country with a declared spending of Rs 463.17 crore, followed by the Congress (Rs 346.41 crore) and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) which utilised Rs 30.98 crore.
All together, the political parties exhausted Rs 858.97 crore on publicity, Rs 311.8 crore on travel, Rs 104.28 crore on other expenses and Rs 311.47 crore on expenditure towards candidates.
The 2014 Lok Sabha polls witnessed one of the most extensive media campaigns carried out by any leader with then Prime Minister candidate Narendra Modi travelling over three lakh kilometres across the length and breadth of the country to garner support for the BJP.
In the 2014 polls, the party dished a fortune on the journey undertaken by its star campaigners, including Modi.
Termed by the BJP as “one of the largest” mass outreach episodes in India’s electoral history, Modi addressed 437 public meetings in 25 states.
The total number of his public meetings stood at 5,827, which included 4,000 ‘Chai Pe Charcha’ sessions, in which he interacted with groups of people across several cities connected by video-link
According to an estimate, Modi reached out directly to anywhere between five to 10 crore people.
There were three main items listed under publicity expenditure. These were expense on media advertisement (print and electronic, bulk SMS, cable, website, TV channels) publicity material (hoardings, posters, banners, etc.) and expenses on public meetings (processions, rallies, etc.).
The national political parties collectively were poorer by Rs 661.26 crore (or 76.98 per cent) on account of media advertisement, Rs 126.94 crore (or 14.78 per cent) on public meetings and Rs 70.77 crore (8.24 per cent) on publicity materials during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
The BJP spent the maximum amount, Rs 342.36 crore, on media advertisements, followed by Rs 89.56 crore on public meetings and Rs 31.35 crore on publicity materials.