Press Release: Election expenditure statements of CPI(ML)(L), NCP, NPEP, AIFB, Rashtriya Lok Samta Party and Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party parties were not available on the website of the ECI at the time of making this report; Out of the 145 RUPPs that contested the Bihar Assembly Election 2025, election expenditure statements of only 16 parties were available in the public domain

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Jun 16, 2026, 4:33:45 AM (8 days ago) Jun 16

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Press Release

16th June, 2026

Analysis of Funds Collected and Expenditure Incurred by Political Parties

during Bihar Assembly Election, 2025

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-of-Funds-Collected-and-Expenditure-Incurred-by-Political-Parties-during-Bihar-Assembly-Election-2025

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, for Bihar, the last date of submission was 30 January, 2026.
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)
o   Expenses on Virtual Campaign through Social Media platforms/Apps/other means by party Central Headquarters
Political parties submit these statements providing information of funds collected and spent between the 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 Bihar Assembly election held between the months of October (elections announced on 6 October 2025) and November (elections completed on 16 November 2025) 2025.
5 National Parties and 5 Regional Parties have been considered for analysis in this report. However, the expenditure statements of only 10 political parties are available on the Election Commission’s website.
The election expenditure statements of CPI(ML)(L), NCP, NPEP, AIFB, Rashtriya Lok Samta Party and Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party parties were not available on the website of the ECI at the time of making this report.
A total of 161 political parties including 6 national parties, 10 regional parties, and 145 Registered Unrecognized Political Parties (RUPPs) contested the Bihar Assembly Election 2025.
In the Bihar Assembly Election 2025, BJP emerged as the largest party, securing 89 seats, followed closely by JD(U) with 85 seats. RJD won 25 seats, while LJP (Ram Vilas) secured 19 seats. INC and AIMIM won 6 and 5 seats respectively, whereas CPI(ML)(L) secured 2 seats. BSP and CPI(M) won 1 seat each.
Unrecognized parties also made their presence felt in the election, by collectively winning 10 seats. Among them, Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) secured 5 seats, Rashtriya Lok Morcha won 4 seats, and the Indian Inclusive Party won 1 seat.

Details provided in the Election Expenditure Statement

Funds Collected and Expenditure incurred by political parties

The National Political Parties considered in this report are: BJP, INC, AAP, BSP and CPI(M). The Regional parties considered are RJD, JD(U), LJP (Ram Vilas), AIMIM and CPI.
BSP is the only party which did not declare any funds collected at the Central Headquarters and State Unit level during the Bihar Assembly Election, 2025.
Total funds collected by 10 political parties during Bihar Assembly Election held in 2025 was Rs 281.323 cr and total expenditure incurred was Rs 193.466 cr.
Funds collected by the parties at the Central Headquarters was Rs 265.987 cr and expenditure was Rs 125.534 cr. Bihar State Units spent Rs 67.932 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, Expenditure incurred on publishing criminal antecedents of the candidate(s) and Expenses on Virtual Campaign through Social Media platforms/Apps/other means by party Central Headquarters.
Political Parties that contested in Bihar Assembly Election, 2025, spent the highest, Rs 100.429 cr on Publicity, followed by Rs 79.539 cr on Travel Expenses, Rs 62.072 cr on Expenses on Lumpsum amount paid to candidates, Rs 14.804 cr on Other/Miscellaneous expenses, Rs 13.074 cr on Expenses on Virtual Campaign through Social Media platforms/Apps/other means by party Central Headquarters & States and Rs 3.886 cr on Expenditure incurred on publishing criminal antecedents of the candidate(s).
Expenditure on Publicity is 36.68% of the overall expenditure declared under various heads.
Expenditure on Travel Expenses is 29.05% 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 the Bihar Assembly election, political parties spent the maximum on Media Advertisement (Rs 84.035 cr), followed by expenditure on Public Meetings (Rs 8.407 cr) and Publicity Materials (Rs 7.987 cr).
Publicity expenditure from Central Headquarters is the highest, Rs 56.594 cr or 56.35% of the total expenditure on publicity, followed by Rs 48.835 cr or 43.65% from Bihar 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 Rs 72.796 cr on their star campaigners and the remaining Rs 6.743 cr on travel of their party leaders.
Political parties have declared travel expenses of Rs 62.124 cr incurred by the Central Headquarters, and 17.415 cr travel expenses from the Bihar state units during the Bihar Assembly election 2025.

Observations of ADR

The election expenditure statements of CPI(ML)(L), NCP, NPEP, AIFB, Rashtriya Lok Samta Party and Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party for the Bihar assembly election 2025 are not available in the public domain despite contesting the election and even after an inordinate delay of more than four months.
BSP is the only party which did not declare any funds collected (by cash, cheque/DD and in Kind) during the Bihar Assembly Election, 2025.
According to Part C of INC’s election expenditure statement for the Bihar Assembly Election 2025, a total amount of Rs 71.08 cr has been shown as funds received. Of this, Rs 1.03 cr is recorded as “Adjustment – Inter Office Transactions,” indicating an internal transfer from the party’s Central Headquarters to the Bihar State Unit. Consequently, this amount has not been treated as part of the actual funds received for the election. After excluding this internal adjustment, the Congress Party’s effective receipts amount to Rs 70.058 cr.
Aam Aadmi Party Bihar State Unit has declared Rs. 9.56 lakhs under the State Funds column. However, this amount represents a lump-sum transfer made by the Party Central Headquarters to the Bihar State Unit through NEFT in two installments of Rs. 6.83 lakhs and Rs. 2.73 lakhs, totaling Rs. 9.56 lakhs. Since this amount has already been accounted for under the funds transferred by the Central Headquarters, it has not been included in the report to avoid double counting.
During the Bihar Assembly Election 2025, only the BJP (Rs 18.9967 cr) and JD(U) (16.635 cr) declared expenses under Social Media Advertisements in the Media Advertisement Expenses section. Additionally, the BJP reported expenditure of Rs 1.7986 cr on virtual campaigning through social media. The INC (Rs 11.2436 cr), CPI(M) (Rs 2.80 lakh), and CPI (Rs 40,000) also declared expenses under virtual campaigning through social media.

Recommendations of ADR

There should be a limit on expenditure incurred by political parties’ on and during election in order to reduce/eradicate financial dominance of those with financial superiority, under reported finances, black money, corruption and other instances of quid pro quo. Establishing limits on expenditure for electoral campaigns is necessary to prevent excessive funding requirements to parties and candidates, as suggested in the 170th and 255th Law Commission of India reports.
Section 77 of the RP Act, 1951 regulating the election expenses incurred or authorized by candidates or their election agents, currently extends from the date of nomination to the date of declaration of results. There is a need to redefine the campaign period for the purposes of reporting and regulating election spending. Large sums of money are spent before their nomination which go unreported. This period, therefore, should be extended by amending section 77(1) to apply from the date of notification of the elections to the date of declaration of results. (Law Commission of India 2015).
There is a need for a specific law on online campaign finance. Provisions can be incorporated in existing laws on digital media with reference to elections that empower the Election Commission suitably in this space to ensure compliance by contestants and non-contestants.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.