Congress splurged Rs380 cr on 2009 polls

The Congress not only outran every competitor to the winner’s post in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, it also probably outstripped all other parties in the spending stakes.

The country’s richest party shelled out an eye-popping Rs380 crore — a three-fold jump from 2004 — for the elections that returned the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) to power.

How Sonia Gandhi’s team stacked up to main rival LK Advani’s is still unclear since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is among at least 19 political parties with representatives in the Lok Sabha to have not yet filed their expenditure statements with the election commission (EC). In fact, SK Mendiratta, legal counsel, Election Commission of India, told DNA that the EC has issued the parties “warning letters and given them a last chance to file their expenditure statements”.

It was mandatory for political parties to file the details of expenses incurred by them within three months of the general elections, according to a timeline set by the EC.

These details about violation of electoral rules and massive increase in money spent are contained in EC’s reply to an RTI application filed by DNA. However, there is no method or record of black money spent in elections.

A significant trend was the way in which parties took to the skies. They spent a significant portion of their money on hiring aircraft and helicopters for their national leaders. The Congress spent a whopping Rs113.56 crore in chartering aircraft and helicopters for its national leaders. For AIADMK, almost 50% of its officially declared expenditure was on hiring aircraft and helicopters for its leader J Jayalalithaa’s travels.

The Congress even distributed an average payment of Rs10 lakh to most of its candidates. The concept of the central leadership supplying money to individual candidates is largely a Congress practice — the Left parties do it too but to a much lesser degree.     

There are other aspects too. The BSP grew richer through the election period, meaning its total assets grew by over Rs14 crore. The party had declared an “opening balance of party funds in whatever manner held as on the date of announcement” of general elections as Rs188 crore. The BSP is outrageously rich for a party with primary electoral power just in one state.

While the communist parties, primarily the CPI and CPM, provide details of funds collected and spent by most of their candidates, state units and even district committees, many others don’t care to go into such details. The BSP officially claims that all the spending was by its national office. Meaning, Uttar Pradesh state unit of BSP officially spent no money at all, though the state elected 20 of its 21 Lok Sabha MPs.

Filed
Twenty-two parties have filed their election expense statements with the ECI. They are Congress, Bahujan Samajwadi Party, Nationalist Congress Party, Shiv Sena, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India (Marxist) CPM, All India Trinamool Congress, Jammu & Kashmir National Conference, Jammu & Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party, All India United Democratic Front, Indian National Lok Dal, Biju Janata Dal, Asom Gana Parishad, Sikkim Democratic Front, Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, Muslim League Kerala State Committee, Kerala Congress, Kerala Congress (M), Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Rashtriya Lok Dal

Not yet
Nineteen parties that have representation in the Lok Sabha have not filed yet. They are the Bharatiya Janata Party, Samajwadi Party, Janata Dal (U), Janata Dal (S), Rashtriya Janata Dal, Telugu Desam Party, Shiromani Akali Dal, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, All India Forward Block, Revolutionary Socialist Party, Telangana Rashtriya Samithi, All India Majilis-E-Ittehadul Muslimmeen, Assam United Democratic Front, Bahujan Vikas Aghadi, Bodoland People’s Front, Haryana Janhit Congress, Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik), Swabhimani Paksha and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi