At Rs 3,335 crore, BJP logs massive surge in election spending in 2024-25: Report

In the pre-election year of 2023–24, the BJP’s spending on election and general propaganda stood at Rs 1,754.06 crore.

• BJP's 2024–25 election spend rose 2.5 times to Rs 3,335.36 crore from 2019.
• Election-related expenses made up 88% of BJP's total spending in 2024–25
• BJP's income rose to Rs 6,769 crore in 2024–25, with 54% donation increase.

Did our AI summary help?

The BJP spent Rs 3,335.36 crore on election and campaign communication in 2024–25, the year when Lok Sabha polls and eight other state elections were held, The Indian Express has reported citing the party's annual audit report.

The IE report quoted the party’s annual audit report submitted to the Election Commission.

This expenditure is nearly two-and-a-half times the Rs 1,352.92 crore spent in 2019–20, when polls were held for the 17th Lok Sabha and seven Assemblies.

The EC announced the 2024 Lok Sabha elections on March 16, triggering campaign activity in the preceding financial year. Polling was conducted over 44 days, from April 19 to June 1, 2024. In the pre-election year of 2023–24, the BJP’s spending on election and general propaganda stood at Rs 1,754.06 crore.

According to the EC, the BJP’s total expenditure on election and general propaganda in the two years preceding the 18th Lok Sabha and eight Assembly elections — the pre-election year and the election year — stood at Rs 5,089.42 crore. This is more than double the Rs 2,145.31 crore spent in the corresponding two-year period ahead of the 17th Lok Sabha and seven Assembly elections.

The Assembly elections held during 2019–20 and 2024–25 were for Maharashtra, Haryana, Jharkhand, Odisha, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. In 2024–25, elections were also held in Jammu and Kashmir, in addition to these seven States.

According to the BJP’s annual audit report, submitted to the Election Commission on December 27, 2025, and published by the EC this week, election-related expenditure accounted for 88% of the party’s total expenses of Rs 3,774.58 crore in 2024–25.

Of the total spending on “election/general propaganda”, advertisements and publicity made up about 68%, amounting to Rs 2,257.05 crore. Spending on electronic media formed the largest component at Rs1,124.96 crore, followed by ₹897.42 crore spent under the head of “advertisement”.

The IE report also shows that the party spent Rs 583.08 crore on travel by aircraft and helicopters, and extended financial assistance of Rs 312.90 crore to its candidates.

Meanwhile, the Congress spent Rs 896.22 crore on contesting elections in 2024-2025, up from Rs 619.67 crore in 2023-2024, as per its annual report submitted to the EC last year.

Rising income

According to IE, the BJP’s total income rose sharply in 2024–25, from Rs 4,340.47 crore in 2023–24 to Rs 6,769.14 crore. The bulk of the party’s income came from voluntary contributions, which amounted to Rs 6,124.85 crore, while the remaining income was derived from fees and subscriptions, bank interest and other sources.

Notably, 2024–25 was the first full financial year after the Supreme Court struck down the government’s anonymous political funding mechanism, the Electoral Bond Scheme. Despite this, donations to the BJP rose by 54%, from Rs 3,967.14 crore in the previous year. According to the BJP’s contribution report published by the EC in December last year, electoral trusts accounted for 61% of the party’s total contributions in 2024–25.