Price of Namo blitz: BJP spends whopping Rs 700 cr for LS elections

Get this: BJP’s expenses for 2014 polls is more than five other national parties put together and spending on publitu and blitz is driving most of this expenditure. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s blitzkrieg before the Lok Sabha polls cost the party over Rs 460 crore in publicity with total spending going up to Rs 712 crore against Congress’ expenditure of Rs 486.21 crore, and the NCP’s spending Rs 64.48 crore. [caption id=“attachment_2132507” align=“alignleft” width=“825”]  Data: ADR[/caption] During LS 2014, BJP declared spending Rs 463.17 crore on publicity while Congress spent Rs 346.41 crore, NCP declared a bill of Rs 30.98 crore, BSP of Rs 12.75 crore while CPM and CPI spent Rs 4.94 crore and Rs 0.72 crore respectively. For both the Congress and the BJP, publicity costs accounted for the rise in declared expenses. It now accounts for over a third of both parties’ expenses, far exceeding travel, or spending on candidates. [caption id=“attachment_2132521” align=“alignleft” width=“825”]  Source: ADR[/caption] BJP’s declared expenditure on travel was Rs 159.15 crore while Congress spent Rs 129.50 crore on travel. BSP came a distant third with Rs 17.31 crore in travel expenses while NCP spent Rs 3.73 crore, CPM Rs 1.94 crore and CPI about Rs 0.17 crore. [caption id=“attachment_2132539” align=“alignleft” width=“825”]  Source: ADR[/caption] BJP spent the maximum amount of Rs 342.36 cr on media advertisement followed by Rs 89.56 cr on public meetings and Rs 31.35 cr on publicity materials whereas the Congress too spent the maximum amount of Rs 289.2 crore on media advertisement followed by Rs 33.08 crore on public meetings and Rs 24.11 crore on publicity materials.