BJP accounts for nearly 45% of total election spending in 2024 Lok Sabha polls: ADR

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spent nearly ₹1,494 crore, accounting for 44.56% of the total election expenditure, during the 2024 Lok Sabha election, poll rights body the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) said on Friday (June 20, 2025).

The Congress followed next with ₹620 crore or 18.5% of the total expenses among the 32 national and regional parties whose records were analysed, the ADR said.

Together, these parties spent ₹3,352.81 crore during the Lok Sabha and simultaneous Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim between March 16 and June 6, 2024.

The national parties accounted for more than ₹2,204 crore (65.75%) of this expenditure.

"Of the total funds collected, national parties collected ₹6,930.246 crore (93.08%) while regional parties received ₹515.32 crore (6.92 per cent)," the report said.

The analysis is based on the mandatory expenditure statements political parties are required to file with the Election Commission (EC) within 90 days of a general election and 75 days of a state poll.

The ADR also found significant delays in submissions, with the Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) statement arriving 168 days late and the BJP's after 139 to 154 days, depending on the state. Only the Congress submitted a consolidated report for both the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls.

Publicity topped the list of expenses

Publicity topped the list of expenses, with the parties spending ₹2,008 crore, or more than 53%, of their total declared expenditure on it.

Travel expenses came next at ₹795 crore, followed by ₹402 crore in lump-sum payments to candidates. The parties also spent over ₹132 crore on virtual campaigns and ₹28 crore on publishing the criminal antecedents of their candidates.

Of the total expenditure of the 32 political parties on publicity, an amount of ₹1,511.3004 crore or 75.25% was spent by the national parties and ₹496.99 crore or 24.75% was spent by the regional parties.

Travel expenses were also heavily skewed toward star campaigners. Of the ₹795 crore spent on travel, ₹765 crore (96.22%) went toward ferrying high-profile party faces, with just ₹30 crore spent on the other leaders.

Concerns on transparency

Statements from 21 parties, including the NCP, CPI, JMM and Shiv Sena (UBT), were unavailable on the EC's website when the report was prepared.

The expenditure statements of the RJD, LJP(RV), AJSU, KC(M) are not available for the concerned 2024 Assembly elections contested in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Odisha.

Meanwhile, two parties -- Jammu and Kashmir PDP and Kerala Congress (M) -- declared zero expenditure despite contesting.

The ADR noted that a total of 690 unrecognised political parties contested in the general election last year, while one in Arunachal Pradesh, 74 in Andhra Pradesh, 35 in Odisha and two in Sikkim contested in the Assembly polls held simultaneously. The expenditure statements of these parties were not analysed as part of the report.

The report said wherever possible, expenditure must be limited to transactions via cheques or DD (demand draft) or RTGS, so as to reduce the use of black money in elections in accordance with the transparency guidelines issued by the EC.

The ADR also urged the EC to appoint observers to monitor party expenditure, akin to those who track candidate spending.