The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has declared an income of Rs 14,633 crore between 2014-15 and 2022-23 but an estimate of funds that it may have spent on buildings and electoral campaigns stands in the range of Rs 74,053 crore and Rs 1,07,803 crore, according to an analytical report in The Wire.
The report by M Rajshekhar raises questions about the mismatch in finances declared by the BJP by looking at two prominent heads of expenditure by the party – its construction spree and its campaign expenditure.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in August 2014, had stated that the party should have offices in all states and districts. Next year, the BJP decided to build new offices in 635 of 694 districts and by March 2023, the target was hiked to 887 district party offices, the report said.
According to the report, the BJP has spent Rs 1,124 crore on land and buildings between 2014 and 2023.
“Even assuming the cost of these buildings (spanning land and building) has remained flat over the last eight years at Rs 3 crore — the party’s outlay works out to Rs 870 crore on district offices alone,” the report pointed out. If the party has to construct nearly 900 offices as per PM Modi’s announcement, the outlay works out to Rs 2,661 crore, said The Wire report.
While the BJP has pegged its electoral campaign costs between 2015-16 and 2022-23 at Rs 5,744 crore, an independent study by the Centre For Media Studies (CMS) had stated that the party’s expenditure in the 2019 elections alone was “close to Rs 27,000 crore.”
This is nearly 45% of the total money spent by all political parties in the 2019 elections, which is at Rs 60,000 crore, the report said.
“The 2024 hustings are projected to cost twice as much — Rs 1,35,000 crore. If the BJP’s spending share stays the same as in 2019, it will end up spending Rs 60,750 crore. This works out to a total expenditure of Rs 87,750 crore between the two Lok Sabha elections. On the other hand, if it spends Rs 27,000 crore in 2024 as well, it will have spent Rs 54,000 crore in total (sic),” it said.
Read the full report here: The Wire