JD(S) yet to reveal expense details on Karnataka polls, BJP spends utmost

New Delhi : The election expenditure  statement of JD (S), led by H D Devegowda-H D Kumaraswamy duo, is 'not yet available' in the public domain despite contesting in Karnataka Assembly election 2018 and emerging as the ruling party in the state.

According to a report by election watcher ADR, the BJP collected Rs 213.47 both at the centre and state levels, which is nearly 60 per cent of the Rs 356.04 crore collected by the 13 national and state parties that contested the Assembly polls.

The Congress was the next, collecting Rs 104.83 crore followed by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) - or CPI(M) - with Rs 17.06 crore.

BJP tops the list on the expenditure front too spending Rs 139.04 crore of which a little over Rs 103 crore was spent on publicity and nearly Rs 18.5 crore on travel, the ADR report said. 

The Congress was a distant second spending nearly Rs 34.5 crore of which Rs 23.79 crore was on publicity.The Samajwadi Party spent a little over Rs 9 crore. The AIADMK, which declared that it did not get any funds, spent Rs 5.1 crore in the polls.

The ADR further said All India Forward Block "has not mentioned any funds" collected and expenditure incurred from it Central Headquarter and State Unit in spite of contesting elections.

NCP and AIADMK collected funds from the Central Headquarters and State Units respectively but have not shown any expenditure incurred in their statements.

The expenditure statement of CPI does not provide any information about the breakup of general party propaganda expenses incurred by party headquarter, the report said.

In its recommendation, ADR says it must be made mandatory for all political parties to submit their statements of expenditure in the format given by the Election Commission - within the prescribed time limit. 

Political parties not submitting on time or in the prescribed format should be heavily penalised, it further recommended. (UNI)