MK Stalin’s Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has spent Rs 35.40 crore in 2021-22, according to the party’s annual balance sheet. Of this, the ruling party in Tamil Nadu spent Rs 30.62 crore, or 87 per cent, on advertisements.
Its arch rival, All India The Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) is not far behind as the main opposition party in the southern state has spent nearly 78 per cent – Rs 22.28 crore – on advertisements, official data analyzed by News18 shows.
last week, the Election The commission of India made public the audit reports of national and regional parties in India and out of these News18 has analyzed the expenditure of 17 parties. The parties included NCP, YSRCP and CPI have not spent any amount on advertisement as per their annual audit report submitted to the election body. CPM and Congress have not given details of their election expenditure in the audit report.
Other parties analyzed include: BJP, Aam Aadmi Party, ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) from West Bengal, JDU and RJD from Bihar, main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) from Andhra Pradesh, SP and BSP from UP , Odisha’s ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD), and Telangana’s ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) (now known as Bharat Rashtra Samithi BRS).
If the full amount is to be considered, then BJP is the highest spender of Rs 313.17 crore on advertisement and publicity. However, the BJP is at the bottom in terms of the share of advertisements in the party’s total expenditure during the financial year. During 2021-22, 75 per cent of BJP’s total expenditure was on election and general campaigning. This includes advertising and promotion; Travel and financial support to the candidates.
The party spent Rs 164.01 crore on advertisements besides Rs 18.41 crore on audio and video creative while Rs 72.28 crore was spent on advertising on electronic media. Another 36.33 crore was spent on cutouts, hoardings and banners. Rs 22.12 crore was spent on advertisement through print material. Data shows that the party has spent 37 per cent of its total expenditure on advertising and publicity.
Tamil Nadu’s ruling DMK has spent Rs 10.67 crore on print and electronic advertisements and Rs 19.95 crore on cable and TV channels. Advertisements account for over 97 per cent of the party’s election expenditure and 87 per cent of the party’s total expenditure during 2021-22. According to the audit report, the party spent Rs 31.54 crore out of the total expenditure of Rs 35.40 crore.
Mamta Banerjee’s TMC has spent a total of Rs 268.33 crore and out of this, 50 percent i.e. Rs 135.12 crore has been spent on election expenses. The party has spent Rs 28.95 crore on the campaign, which is just 11 per cent of the total expenditure. Among other expenses of the party were those made on travel – plane and helicopter travel cost the party Rs 35.59 crore during 2021-22, double the expenditure incurred in 2020-21 – Rs 18.96 crore.
The party spent Rs 1.82 crore on salaries and wages of employees during 2021-22, as against Rs 58.32 lakh in 2020-21. It spent Rs 25.81 crore on administrative and general expenses, up from Rs 3.96 crore during 2020-21.
Tamil Nadu’s main opposition AIADMK has spent Rs 28.43 crore during 2021-22, including election expenditure of Rs 22.47 crore. A total of Rs 22.28 crore or 78 per cent of the total expenditure was on print and electronic advertisements, while another Rs 18.47 lakh was travel expenses of star campaigners.
Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP spent Rs 30.29 crore during 2021-22. Of this, Rs 13.66 crore was spent on publicity expenditure and public speaking while Rs 11.34 crore was election expenditure. The party spent Rs 4.27 crore as administrative and general expenses and Rs 61 lakh on staff cost. The party’s audit report shows that it spent Rs 13.85 crore or 46 per cent of the total expenditure on advertising, which included a media campaign of Rs 4.68 crore; An advertisement of Rs 4.88 crore was spent on electronic media and Rs 1.77 crore was spent on cutouts, hoardings, banners and other similar items.
During 2021-22, Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) spent Rs 85.17 crore, including Rs 69.59 crore on elections. According to the party’s audit report, the BSP’s election expenditure also includes campaign expenditure of Rs 13.83 crore, which is 16 per cent of the party’s total expenditure.
Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has spent Rs 28.63 crore during 2021-22. Of this, Rs 23.04 crore was election expenditure during bye-elections to Pipli Assembly and Zilla Parishad and urban elections. During the urban elections the party spent Rs 5 crore on advertisement while in Zilla Parishad the party spent Rs 11 crore on advertisement. The party has spent 56 per cent of its total expenditure on advertisement.
Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal United (JDU) has spent Rs 4.15 crore during 2021-22. Of this, Rs 1.82 crore was on election expenses and Rs 1.85 crore on administrative and general expenses. The party has spent Rs 36.82 lakh on advertisement through print and electronic media. In 2020-21, when the Bihar elections were held, Rs 24.3 crore was spent by the party, of which Rs 22.31 crore was election expenditure. During the year 2020-21 an amount of Rs 5.65 crore was on advertisement in print and electronic media. Lalu Prasad Yadav’s RJD, now an ally of the JDU, has spent just Rs 33,000 on advertising, according to the party’s audit report.
Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party (SP) has spent Rs 7.56 crore on advertisements, which is 14 per cent of its total expenditure of Rs 54 crore, while TRS has spent Rs 7.12 crore on advertisements, which is Rs 27.93 crore. is about 25 percent. The TDP has spent only six per cent of its total expenditure – Rs 1.66 crore out of a total of Rs 25.57 crore – on advertising.
In 2021-22, the CPM spent Rs 83.41 crore, including Rs 13.03 crore spent on elections, while the Congress spent Rs 400 crore during that financial year, of which Rs 279.73 crore was spent on elections.
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