New Delhi, Nov 13 (IANS): The BJP's fund collection and expenditure was the highest among all the 11 parties during the Maharashtra and Haryana Assembly polls in 2019, according to a recent report by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
According to ADR, the BJP collected Rs 311.85 crore during the Maharashtra and Haryana polls, which took place around September-October 2019, with its central headquarter gathering Rs 213.23 crore, Maharashtra unit collecting Rs 97.8 crore and Haryana unit contributing Rs 82 lakh.
When it came to spending, the saffron party was ahead of all. BJP spent Rs 102.46 crore, with its central headquarter spending Rs 91 lakh, Maharashtra unit using Rs 82.4 crore and Haryana unit spending Rs 19.14 crore.
When we see expenditure under various heads, the BJP spent a total amount of Rs 102.46 crore in the two states of which Rs 68.92 crore was on publicity, Rs 32.28 crore used on travel expenses and Rs 28.38 crore given to candidates.
The report pointed out at that BSP, SP and AAP collected Rs 46.26 crore, Rs 4.48 crore and Rs 1.91 crore respectively from their central headquarters, and had not declared any amounts from state units.
It said that SP spent Rs 21.69 crore from its central headquarters while its Maharashtra and Haryana state units spent nil. Similarly, BSP incurred an expense of Rs 7.3 crore.
The ADR report said that in case of MNS and JD-U also, parties have collected funds from their Central Headquarters while only AIFB has declared no funds at its central Headquarter and state units were collected.
The ADR said that political parties collected a total of Rs 266.70 crore at the central level, through cash, cheque or demand draft and in kind/bank interest, which was 72.51 per cent of the total funds collected by political parties during Maharashtra and Haryana Assembly elections.
The report said that among the state units, the political parties collected the maximum amount of Rs 98.72 crore from Maharashtra, which was 26.84 per cent of the total funds, collected at the state levels.
It said that the most preferred mode of collection was by cheque/DD where the parties collected Rs 366.22 crore, which was 99.57 per cent of the total funds collected both at the state and central levels. Besides, Rs 1.57 crore was collected by cash at the central headquarters and state units by the 11 political parties.