According to the reports of ADR (Association for Democratic Reforms), Bhartiya Janta Party had spent almost 61 percent of the total expense incurred by all the political parties in the campaigning process of 2014 assembly elections in Haryana and Maharashtra.
The ADR report says that a total of Rs. 357 crores were spent in the mentioned elections by 15 political parties. Out of it, BJP spent a total of Rs. 217 crore. The next party that invested a considerable amount of money in the race was Congress with Rs. 55 crores. NCP had spent Rs. 41 crores while Shiv Sena spent a mere amount of Rs. 18 crores.
Details of the report state that BJP’s central headquarter had spent Rs 151 crores alone while its Maharashtra state unit had spent Rs. 65 crore. The only parties that spent almost no expenditure in the assembly elections were All India Forward Bloc, Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), and JD(U). All these parties didn’t have any expenditure either ate central level or state level.
Breaking down the expense reports, it was observed that 77 percent ( Rs. 281 crores) of the total money was spent just on ‘publicity’. Under this category, media advertising attracted the most considerable share of investment which was a whopping Rs. 245 crores. Media advertisements included print & electronic, bulk SMS, cable, website TV channels, etc.
In publicity expenses, Bhartiya Janta Party had spent over Rs 186 crore on publicity which translates to 66 percent of the total expense. The grand old party had spent Rs. 41 crores on the publicity.