Bhubaneswar: The election expenditure of ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) for 2019 elections increased by nearly 19 times in comparison to the party’s expenditure for 2014 polls.
To win the 2019 simultaneous elections, the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has spend Rs 227.79 crore while it had spend only Rs 12.76 crore for the election held in 2014. This amount was spent excluding the expenditure incurred for election to Patkura assembly seat.
This was revealed from the expenditure statement submitted by the BJD to the Election Commission of India (ECI).
As per the statement, the party has spent Rs 71.26 crore for advertisement in various media. The party has utilised Rs 51.77 crore for advertisement in print media, Rs 12.42 crore for electronic media while Rs 5.26 crore expenditure was shown for social media campaigning.
The ruling party has spent Rs 14.58 crore to meet the expenditure for creation of banners, posters, stickers, etc and Rs 16.86 crore for holding political meeting and rallies during the election. The travel expense made by the party on star campaigners was Rs 11.52 crore.
Similarly, the BJD has claimed that it has spent Rs 45.02 crore for campaigning through other sectors like wall painting, hallow gram, video recording, etc.
In total, the party utilized Rs 193.74 crore for campaigning while it has provided Rs 34.05 crore to its candidates for their election related expenditures.
Meanwhile, Opposition BJP and Congress alleged that the reality is far from the amount shown by the BJD. Terming the expenditure statement of BJD as just eyewash, BJP leader Bishnu Charan Sethi alleged that the amount really spent by the party is much more than the admissible expenditure.
Similarly, Congress legislator Santosh Singh Saluja also alleged that the BJD’s total election expenditure might be over Rs 2,000 crore. The ruling party has utilized the black money it had made in last 19 years of its rule, he further alleged. Saluja demanded a probe by the Election Commission to trace out the truth.
However, BJD treasurer Subash Singh rejected the allegations of opposition parties and claimed that BJD has done the election expenditure in a transparent manner and the allegation of opposition leaders are false and baseless.