In Bihar last year, the political parties participating in the assembly elections had collected donations of Rs 281.32 crore and spent Rs 193.47 crore, of which the maximum expenditure was on campaigning. Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has revealed this in its report.

The report analyzed expenditure details filed by five national parties – Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Communist Party of India (CPI-M) – and five regional parties – Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Janata Dal United (JDU), Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), AIMIM and Communist Party of India (CPI).

10 parties collected donations worth Rs 281 crore

According to the report, 10 parties together collected Rs 281.323 crore as donations, while their total expenditure was Rs 193.466 crore. Thus, there was a difference of approximately Rs 88 crore between the funds deposited and the stated expenditure.

Publicity emerged as the biggest item of expenditure and this amount was 36.68 percent of the total expenditure i.e. Rs 100.429 crore. Parties also spent Rs 79.539 crore on travel and Rs 62.072 crore as lump sum payments to candidates.

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13 crores spent on digital promotion

Rs 13.074 crore was spent on virtual campaigning through social media platforms and other digital mediums, while parties spent Rs 3.886 crore on publishing criminal records of candidates as directed by the Election Commission. Other expenses stood at Rs 14.804 crore.

The ADR report states that 29.05 percent of the total expenditure was spent on travel. Thus, it became the second largest part of election expenditure after campaigning.

A total of 161 political parties took part in the Bihar Assembly elections, which included six national parties, 10 regional parties and 145 registered unrecognized political parties. However, this analysis was limited to only those 10 major parties whose expenditure details were available.

Mayawati’s party did not give any details

According to the report, among the parties analysed, BSP was the only party which did not disclose any funds collected at its central headquarters or at the state-unit level during the Bihar Assembly elections.

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