New Delhi, Nov 24 (IT): The Congress party on Friday said that the Election Commission of India (ECI) should take cognisance of the number of advertisements the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been floating in the run up to the general elections next year and the assembly elections in five states in December.

The latest Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) data placed the BJP as the top advertiser in recent days. The BJP topped the rankings of advertisers across all TV channels in the recent ratings that ended on November 16. If one takes a look from November 10-16, advertisements by the BJP have been aired 22,099 times on Television.

Congress also asked the ECI to assess the impact of the spending on the electoral process in the five states going to polls.

Congress leader and former information and broadcasting minister Manish Tewari said that the BJP was leading the race when it comes to advertisements.

"The ruling party has surpassed leading streaming player Netflix and e-commerce giant Amazon India, in its spending on advertisements," he said.

Tewari further called it an example of crony capitalism.

"Though the party keeps claiming itself to be a party with a difference, the data reflects the clear nexus between big capitalists or rather between big businesses and big political parties. This is crony capitalism personified, this is the quintessential 'suit-boot ki sarkar'," he added.

He also said the electoral bonds scheme made political funding opaque, giving rise to crony capitalism.

Earlier also, the Congress had said the electoral bonds heavily favoured the ruling party and promoted ghost funding. It demanded the ECI to intervene to ensure this did not impact the impending elections in five states.