PUBLISHED: 07 Feb 2025, 10:10 PM IST
LAST UPDATE: 07 Feb 2025, 10:10 PM IST
Emblems of BJD, BJP, and Congress
The General Elections of 2024 in Odisha appeared to be the most expensive. BJP established a robust campaign presence, while the State’s now Opposition party BJD led by Naveen Patnaik had embarked on extensive helicopter tours to reinforce the party’s electioneering efforts. Interestingly, the BJD spent 7 times more than BJP.
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According to the sources, financial documents submitted to the Election Commission reveal that the BJD had outspent the BJP by a factor of seven in Odisha during the twin polls. On average, each BJP legislative candidate received approximately Rs 20 Lakh, whereas BJD candidates were allocated Rs 30 Lakh.
However, the disclosure of these spending figures has led to political mudslinging.
The BJD had spent a staggering Rs 415 Crore, significantly overshadowing the BJP’s expenses of around Rs 60 Crore. Data indicates that the BJP’s parliamentary candidates had generally received Rs 60 Lakh rupees each, with the exception of Dharmendra Pradhan from Sambalpur, who was allocated Rs 70 Lakh. Legislative Assembly candidates had got Rs 20 Lakh each, except for Parshuram Dhadda from Soro, who had received Rs 40 Lakh.
Overall, the Odisha BJP’s campaign expenditure totalled around Rs 60 Crore, broken down into Rs 34.33 Crore for legislative candidates, Rs 16.11 Crore for parliamentary candidates, and Rs 8.75 Crore for the party’s promotional activities. In stark contrast, the BJD allocated Rs 53.83 Crore for candidate support, Rs 83 Crore on social media initiatives, Rs 25.46 Crore on star campaigners, and Rs 32.65 Crore on posters and banners.
The Congress party, on its part, had disclosed that it did not provide any financial support to its candidates in Odisha.
Election Watch (a flagship body of ADR) said that individual candidate expenditures incurred in Odisha during the twin polls could inflate the actual costs.
“Individual candidates submit their election expense details separately, which is usually not included in his/her party’s expense list. It is too difficult to cardinally measure the actual expenses,” Ranjan Mohanty, Election Watch coordinator in Odisha stated.
Following these revelations, the BJP and BJD traded accusations, with the Congress criticising both for their lavish expenses. BJP claimed that the BJD’s expenditures surpassed Rs 1,000 Crore and accused the previous Naveen Patnaik-led government of diverting State funds for campaign purposes.
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Conversely, the BJD contended that the BJP is concealing facts, arguing that campaign expenses for central leaders have been categorised as national spending.
In terms of party finances, reports indicate that the national BJP after the poll has reserves totalling Rs 7,361 Crore, whereas the Odisha BJP’s reserves are reported at Rs 12.7 Crore. Meanwhile, the BJD has an account balance of Rs 625 Crore.
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