BJP spent Rs 27,000 Cr this 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Costliest ever

mangaloretoday network

New Delhi, June 05: Rs 27,000 crore is how much the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party spent in the recent Lok Sabha elections, according to a report by the Centre for Media Studies released on Monday.

    ’The report has called the 2019 general elections the ‘most expensive election ever, anywhere.’

The statistics was evaluated based on field studies, analysis and estimation. The report revealed that they spent Rs 700 per voter or nearly Rs 100 crore in each parliamentary constituency, reported Business Standard.

BJP spent about 20% of the total poll expenditure in 1998, against about 45% in 2019, the report said, according to Scroll. Congress, on the other hand, spent about 40% of total expenditure in 2009, as against 15%-20% this year.
The report described the 2019 Lok Sabha polls as “a watershed election”.

According to the report, around Rs 12,000 crore to Rs 15,000 crore was distributed directly to voters, while Rs 20,000 crore to Rs 25,000 crore was spent on publicity, reported Scroll.

If this is how money is going to be thrown in for election campaigning, “expenditure in the next 2024 general election could cross Rs 1 trillion,” said N Bhaskara Rao, chairman of CMS, quoted the media report.
"“Mother of all corruption lies in the spiralling election expenditure. If we are not able to address this, we can’t check corruption in India.’’" - N Bhaskara Rao, Chairman of Centre for Media Studies to Business Standard

(With inputs from Scroll, Business Standard)