Press Release: Out of the total expenditure of Rs 93.375 cr, INC incurred the maximum expenditure of Rs 40.131 cr. BJP spent the second highest expenditure of Rs 39.145 cr, and AAP spent the third highest expenditure of a total of Rs 12.12 cr.

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Dec 17, 2025, 1:32:38 AM (7 days ago) Dec 17

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Press Release

17th December 2025

Analysis of Funds Collected and Expenditure Incurred by Political Parties during Delhi Assembly Election, 2025

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-delhi-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 Delhi, the last date of submission was 26 April, 2025.
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 Delhi Assembly election held between the months of January (elections announced on 10^th January-2025) and February (elections completed on 10 February 2025), 2025.
5 National Parties and 8 Regional Parties have been considered for analysis in this report. However, the expenditure statements of only 9 political parties are available on the Election Commission’s website.
The election expenditure statements of AIFB, JD(U), NCP 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 105 political parties including 5 national parties, 8 regional parties, and 92 unrecognized political parties contested the Delhi Assembly Election 2025. Among these, only two parties, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), succeeded in securing seats in the Assembly.
In the final results, 48 BJP candidates secured victories, with the party receiving 43.23 lakh votes. In comparison, 22 AAP candidates were elected, and the party garnered a total of 41.33 lakh votes.

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 CPI(ML)(L), AIMIM, LJP (Ram Vilas) and CPI.
BSP is the only party which did not declare any funds collected at the Central Headquarters and State Unit level and AIMIM has not declared any expenditure during the Delhi Assembly Election, 2025.
Total funds collected by 9 political parties during Delhi Assembly Election held in 2025 was Rs 170.682 cr and total expenditure incurred was Rs 93.375 cr.

Expenditure incurred by political parties under various heads

Political Parties that contested in Delhi Assembly Election, 2025, spent the highest, Rs 91.45 cr on Publicity, followed by Rs 19.268 cr on Lumpsum amount paid to candidates, Rs 5.949 cr on Expenses on Virtual Campaign through Social Media platforms/Apps/other means by party Central Headquarters, Rs 3.123 cr on Other/Miscellaneous expenses, Rs 44.24 lakhs on Expenditure incurred on publishing criminal antecedents of the candidate(s) and Rs 4.57 lakhs on Travel Expenses.
Expenditure on Publicity is 76.03% of the overall expenditure declared under various heads.
Expenditure on Travel Expenses is 0.04% 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 Delhi Assembly election, political parties spent the maximum on Media Advertisement (Rs 52.05 cr), followed by expenditure on Publicity Materials (Rs 34.445 cr) and Public Meetings (Rs 4.955 cr).
Publicity expenditure from Central Headquarters is the highest, Rs 51.13 cr or 55.91% of the total expenditure on publicity, followed by Rs 40.32 cr or 44.09% from Delhi 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 4.20 lakhs on their party leaders and the remaining Rs 37,000 on travel of their star campaigners.
Political parties have declared travel expenses of Rs 4.57 lakhs incurred by the Delhi state units, and zero travel expenses from the Central Headquarters during the Delhi Assembly election

Observations of ADR

The election expenditure statements of AIFB, JD(U), NCP and Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party for the Delhi assembly election 2025 are not available in the public domain despite contesting the election, even after an inordinate delay of more than seven months.
BSP is the only party which did not declare any funds collected and AIMIM has not declared any expenditure (by cash, cheque/DD and remaining unpaid) during the Delhi Assembly Election, 2025.
According to Part C of INC’s election expenditure statement for the Delhi Assembly Election 2025, a total amount of Rs 67.093 cr has been shown as funds received. Of this, Rs 2.78 cr is recorded as “Adjustment – Inter Office Transactions,” indicating an internal transfer from the party’s Central Headquarters to the Delhi 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 64.313 cr.
It is to be noted that expenses declared by parties in their election statements under cash/cheque/DD/remaining unpaid and under party propaganda differ in amount in some cases.
During the Delhi Assembly Election 2025, only the BJP and AAP declared expenses under social media advertisements in the Media Advertisement Expenses section, while the INC declared expenses under virtual campaigns through social media.

Recommendations of ADR

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.