The BJP spent almost double of what the Congress spent on its 2022 Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections campaign, according to the election expenditure reports submitted by the parties to the Election Commission.
While the BJP declared an expenditure of Rs.49,68,71,533, the Congress’ expenditure report showed a gross expenditure of Rs.27,01,78,819. The Gujarat elections, which were held in December 2022 along with the Himachal Pradesh polls, saw the Congress spend Rs.103.62 crore as per the expenditure reports published by the EC on Monday. The BJP’s spending on the Gujarat polls is not known yet as the EC is yet to publish the expenditure report in question. Though the Election Commission places a spending limit on candidates, the amount a party can spend on a campaign is not regulated.
In Himachal Pradesh, the BJP spent Rs.26.65 crore on “general party propaganda”, including Rs.15.19 crore on the travel costs of star campaigners like Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president J.P. Nadda; Rs.8.50 crore on advertisements; and Rs.1.49 crore on public meetings, rallies etc.
The majority of spending for both parties was in the form of payments to their candidates or state unit – Rs.14.80 crore of the total Rs.27.01 crore Congress expenditure went to candidates and Rs.28 crore out of the BJP’s spending of Rs.49.68 crore went to the party’s state unit. The rest, Rs.12.21 crore, of the Congress’ expenditure was on general party propaganda. The party spent Rs.5.28 crore on the travel of star campaigners Rajiv Shukla, Anand Sharma, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Bhagel and Sukhvinder Singh Sukku, who became Chief Minister after the Congress won the elections. In the results that were declared on December 8, the Congress won 40 seats and the BJP 25.