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Congress spent Rs. 125 crores for general elections

By K.V. Prasad

NEW DELHI, NOV. 27. The Congress, which won the maximum number of seats in the April-May Lok Sabha elections, shelled out Rs. 125 crores in the run-up to the polls.

To be precise, the Congress spent Rs. 125,43,33,247 — the highest amount spent by any national party (the BJP is yet to file a statement), according to the expenditure report filed with the Election Commission. Of this amount, the Congress spent Rs. 48.76 crores for publicity, including for manifesto, pamphlets, posters, advertisements, hoardings and video and audio-cassettes.

The travel expenses of leaders, including the hiring of aircraft, cost the Congress Rs. 8.71 crores. Train and road travel expenses amounted to Rs. 2.33 lakhs and Rs. 31.69 lakhs.

A sum of Rs. 2.16 crores was spent to organise public meetings and Rs. 2.88 crores to maintain and run the party / campaign offices.

The BJP, which was then heading the ruling National Democratic Alliance, has so far not filed its election expenditure statement with the Election Commission. It has been asked to do so by the end of the month.

Other parties' expenses

Of the other national parties, the CPI(M) has spent more than Rs. 8.26 crores, followed by the Bahujan Samaj Party (Rs. 4.07 crores), the Nationalist Congress Party (Rs.30.56 lakhs), and the Communist Party of India (Rs. 27.93 lakhs).

The statements of expenditure submitted by the Congress and the NCP concern the general elections, while those of the CPI(M), the CPI and the BSP contain the expenses incurred for the Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Orissa and Sikkim also.

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