Gujarat, Himachal polls: Parties collected Rs 356.78 crore, spent Rs 163.73 crore

New Delhi, Sep 10: The total funds collected by ten political parties during Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh Assembly Elections held in 2017 was Rs 356.78 crore and total expenditure incurred was Rs 163.73 crore.

The report prepared by the Association for Democratic Reforms analysed the expenditure incurred by recognised political parties, during the state Assembly elections to Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, held in the months of November and December, 2017.

6 National Parties and 6 Regional Parties have been considered for analysis in this report.Election expenditure statements of AAP and JDS for Gujarat Assembly election are unavailable on the website of the ECI.

Funds Collected and Expenditure incurred by political parties:

Funds collected by the parties at the Central Headquarters was Rs 215.36 crore and expenditure was Rs 42.72 crore. Gujarat State Units spent Rs 119.11 crore while the Himachal Pradesh units spent Rs 1.90 cr.

AIFB & JDU are the only parties that have incurred no expenditure either at the central or at the state unit level despite contesting elections.

Expenditure incurred by political parties under various heads:

Political parties declare their expenditure under the heads of Publicity, Travel Expenses, Other/ Miscellaneous expenses and Lumpsum amount paid to their contesting candidates.

Political Parties that contested in Gujarat & Himachal Pradesh Assembly Elections, 2017, spent the highest, Rs 95.82 cr on Publicity, followed by Rs 61.35 cr on Lumpsum amount paid to candidates, Rs 37.89 cr to Other/Miscellaneous expenses and Rs 32.38 cr on travel expenses.

Expenditure on publicity is 42.13% of the overall expenditure declared under various heads.
Expenditure on other/miscellaneous is 16.66% of the overall expenditure declared under various heads.

Expenditure on Publicity by political parties:

Political Parties are required to segregate their publicity expenses under three heads: Media Advertisement, Publicity Materials and Public Meetings.

During Gujarat & Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections, political parties spent the maximum on Media Advertisement (Rs 65.105 cr), followed by expenditure on Publicity Materials (Rs 17.07 cr) and Public Meeting (Rs 13.645 cr).

Publicity expenditure from Gujarat State Units is the highest, Rs 78.8 cr or 82.24% of the total expenditure on publicity, followed by Rs 15.08 cr or 15.74% from Central Headquarters and Rs 1.94 cr or 2.02% from Himachal Pradesh State Units.

Expenditure on Travel by political parties:

The 'Travel' head is segregated into travel expenses incurred specifically on star campaigners and that of the party leaders.

Political parties spent 95.24% of their total travel expenses or Rs 30.84 cr on their star campaigners and the remaining 4.76% or Rs 1.54 cr on travel of their party leaders.

Travel expenses from Gujarat State Unit by itself was Rs 16.94 cr or 52.33%, which was higher than Rs 15.42 cr or 47.64% spent from Central Headquarters.