Press Release: Total funds collected by 19 political parties during Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Puducherry Assembly Elections 2021 was Rs 1116.81 cr and total expenditure incurred was Rs 514.30 cr

[ADR India]

Press Release

3rd December, 2021

Analysis of Funds Collected and Expenditure Incurred by Political Parties 

during Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Puducherry Assembly Elections, 2021

For the complete reports in English and Hindi on party-wise funds collected and expenditure incurred by political parties under various heads such as publicity and travel, refer to the detailed reports attached herewith.  

To access the reports on the website, please go to: https://adrindia.org/content/analysis-funds-collected-and-expenditure-incurred-political-parties-during-assam-kerala

Executive Summary

• Political parties are required to submit a statement of election expenditure to the Election Commission within 75 days of completion of Assembly Elections. Accordingly, the last date of submission was 18 July, 2021.
  
  
• The expenditure statement contains details of the total amount received as funds in the form of cash, cheques and demand drafts and the total amount spent under various heads.
  
  
• The expenditure statement contains information on the amount spent on the following heads at the central and state levels by the party: 
  

  o   Publicity

  o   Travel expenses

  o   Other expenses

  o   Expenditure towards candidates

  o   Expenditure incurred on publishing criminal antecedents of the candidate(s)
  
  

•  Political parties submit these statements providing information of funds collected and spent between announcement and completion of elections. This period could be between 3 weeks to 3 months based on the notification issued by the Election Commission.
  
  
• This report analyses the funds received and expenditure incurred by recognized political parties, during the Assembly elections to Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Puducherry held between the months of February (elections announced on 26-02-2021) and May (elections completed on 04-05-2021), 2021.
  
  
• 8 National Parties and 22 Regional Parties have been considered for analysis in this report. However, the expenditure statements of only 19 political parties are available on the Election Commission’s website.
  
  
• The election expenditure statements of 1 National and 10 Regional parties are not available on the website of the ECI. These include NPEP, LJP, RJD, DMDK, IUML, Shivsena, RSP, AJSU, JDU, RLSP and BPF.
  
  

Funds Collected and Expenditure incurred by political parties

• The National Political Parties considered in this report are: BJP, INC, BSP, NCP, AITC, CPM, CPI. The Regional parties considered are DMK, AIMIM, CPI(ML)(L), AIFB, AGP, AIADMK, AIUDF, PMK, JDS, KC-M, SP and AINRC.
  
  
• AIFB, JDS and KC-M did not declare any election expenditure at the Central Headquarters and State Units during the Assembly Elections, 2021.
  
  
• Total funds collected by 19 political parties during Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Puducherry Assembly Elections held in 2021 was Rs 1116.81 cr and total expenditure incurred was Rs 514.30 cr.
  
  
• Funds collected by the parties at the Central Headquarters was Rs 875.33 cr and expenditure was Rs 308.085 cr. Tamil Nadu State Unit spent Rs 75.016 cr, Kerala State Unit spent Rs 59.457 cr, West Bengal State Unit spent Rs 44.94 cr, Assam State Unit spent Rs 23.648 cr. while Puducherry State Unit spent Rs 3.156 cr.

Expenditure incurred by political parties under various heads

• Political parties declare their expenditure under the heads of Publicity, Travel Expenses, Other/ Miscellaneous expenses, Lumpsum amount paid to their contesting candidates and Expenditure incurred on publishing criminal antecedents of the candidate(s).
  
  
• Political Parties that contested in Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Puducherry Assembly Elections, 2021, spent the highest, Rs 282.08 cr on Publicity, followed by Rs 235.66 cr on Lumpsum amount paid to candidates, Rs 119.57 cr on Travel expenses, Rs 64.336 cr on Other/Miscellaneous expenses and Rs 19.162 cr on Expenditure incurred on publishing criminal antecedents of the candidate(s).
  
  
• Expenditure on Publicity is 39.13% of the overall expenditure declared under various heads.
  
  
• Expenditure on Other/Miscellaneous is 8.93% 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 Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Puducherry Assembly elections, political parties spent the maximum on Media Advertisement (Rs 201.05 cr), followed by expenditure on Publicity Materials (Rs 63.722 cr) and Public Meetings (Rs 17.308 cr).
  
  
• Publicity expenditure from Central Headquarters is the highest, Rs 117.014 cr or 41.483% of the total expenditure on publicity, followed by Rs 70.116 cr or 24.857% from Tamil Nadu state units, Rs 52.078 cr or 18.462% from Kerala state units, Rs 31.518 cr or 11.173% from West Bengal state units, Rs 9.084 cr or 3.22% from Assam state units and Rs 2.27 cr or 0.805% from Puducherry State Units.

Expenditure on Travel by political parties

• The ‘Travel’ head was segregated into travel expenses incurred specifically on star campaigners and that of the party leaders.
  
  
• Political parties spent 94.96% of their total travel expenses or Rs 113.549 cr on their star campaigners and the remaining 5.04% or Rs 6.021 cr on travel of their party leaders.
  
  
• Travel expenses from Central Headquarters by itself was Rs 96.54 cr or 80.74%, which was higher than the total travel expenses incurred from state units. Total travel expenses from Assam state Units were Rs 13.455 cr or 11.25% of the total expenses incurred.

Observations of ADR

1. The election expenditure statements of NPEP, LJP, RJD, DMDK, IUML, Shivsena, RSP, AJSU, JDU, RLSP and BPF are not available in the public domain despite contesting elections, with a total delay of more than four months. 
   
   
2. The expenditure statements of AITC for Assam & Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections are not available on the website of ECI despite contesting elections in the respective states.
   
   
3. AIFB, JDS and KC-M had not declared any Election expenditure incurred at the Central Headquarters and State Units during the Assembly Elections, 2021.
   
   
4. It must be noted that out of 19 political parties analysed in this report, only DMK declared donations through electoral bonds worth Rs 106 cr in their election expenditure statement for the Assembly elections 2021.

Recommendations of ADR

1. It must be made mandatory for all political parties to submit their statements of expenditure in the format given by the ECI, within the prescribed time limit. Political parties not submitting on time or in the prescribed format should be heavily penalized.
   
   
2. The details of all donors who contribute to national and regional parties exclusively for their election campaigns must be declared in the public domain irrespective of the amount donated.
   
   
3. A format similar to the donations report along with the date of donations, submitted to the ECI on an annual basis, has to be prescribed for the expenditure statement so as to bring in more transparency in the finances of the political parties especially during elections when it is said that black money plays a major role.
   
   
4. Where possible, expenditure must be limited to transactions via cheque/DD/RTGS so as to reduce use of black money in elections, as per the transparency guidelines issued by the ECI.
   
   
5. Similar to the shadow observers of the ECI for monitoring expenditure of candidates, there must also be observers for monitoring the expenditure of political parties.

Contact Details

State Coordinators

P. Joseph Victor Raj Tamil Nadu and Puducherry state coordinator +91-94860-86938 vrh...@gmail.com

Dr. Ujjaini Halim West Bengal state coordinator +91-98302-99326 ujjain...@hotmail.com

Mr. M. S. Venugopal Kerala Pradesh state coordinator +91-93494-94833 venut...@gmail.com

Mr. Tasaduk Ariful Hussain Assam state coordinator +91 361 2338-888 +91-94350-54775 arif...@gmail.com

National Election Watch (NEW) & Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR)

Media and Journalist Helpline   +91 80103 94248 Email: a...@adrindia.org

Maj Gen Anil Verma (Retd.) Head - NEW & ADR   +91 8826479910 anil...@adrindia.org

Prof Jagdeep Chhokar IIM Ahmedabad (Retd.)   Founder Member- NEW & ADR   +919999620944 jchh...@gmail.com

Prof Trilochan Sastry IIM Bangalore   Founder Member - NEW & ADR   +919448353285, tsa...@gmail.com

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