Thiruvananthapuram: BJP's lofty ambitions in Kerala have always been backed by deep pockets and results have hardly been a deterrent. In the past two Lok Sabha elections in Kerala (i.e. 2014 and 2019), the BJP spent over Rs 40 crore according to the expenditure report of the Election Commission of India and the returns; zero seats.
The sole consolation was that there was an increase in vote share from 10.45 per cent to 12 per cent. Records show that even the cumulative expenditure of the CPM and the Congress in these two LS polls was way less than what BJP spent.
The CPM's total expenditure for 2014 and 2019 LS polls was Rs 14.6 crore while for the Congress, the figure was Rs 16.7 crore. Both the CPM and the Congress were thrifty in 2014 as per official records; spending only Rs 1.4 crore and Rs 1.17 crore, respectively for propaganda, publicity and as lumpsum payment to candidates.
The scene changed drastically in 2019. While BJP scaled up the expenditure from Rs 15 crore to Rs 25 crore recording a 66 per cent increase, the CPM and the Congress saw their expenditure go up as high as 13 and 15 times, respectively. Official figures show that the CPM spent Rs 13.16 crore and the Congress paid Rs 15.6 crore for the election.
In 2019, the CPM went into the elections with a hefty opening balance of Rs 35 crore and the gross receipts from all sources from the announcement of election to the date of completion of election was Rs 22.7 crore. Of the total expenditure of Rs 10.7 crore for general party propaganda, the party lavished on advertisements and publicity materials (badges, stickers hoardings, flags, printing manifesto, led wall, posters, printing charges).
The party also paid a lumpsum of Rs 2 crore to its candidates. Ironically A M Ariff, the party's lone winner from Kerala in 2019, got the lowest share from the party; Rs 8.25 lakh. The figures also show how desperate CPM was about Kollam in 2019 where K N Balagopal took on N K Premachandran. Pinarayi's 'stinker' (paranari) remark against Premachandran in 2014 had triggered a row after the RSP faction, which was earlier with the LDF, merged with Shibu Baby John-led RSP just ahead of LS polls in 2014. CPM was still smarting. The average expenditure on a CPM candidate in 2019 was Rs 20-25 lakh, but Balagopal got Rs 59 lakh in eight instalments, the highest for a CPM candidate in 2019. When the results came, Balagopal lost by a huge margin of 1.48 lakh votes.
Backed with gross receipts from all sources amounting to Rs 15.2 crore, the Congress also loosened the purse strings in 2019, spending Rs 11 crore on party propaganda and doling out Rs 4.59 crore as lumpsum payment to its candidates. In effect, the Congress won 15 seats and on an average it spent Rs 1 crore per winning seat; officially.
BJP had made a total lumpsum payment of Rs 11.02 crore to its candidates in 2014 and spent over Rs 5 crore in two constituencies alone; Thiruvananthapuram and Kasaragod. It wasn't a wasteful expenditure in the state capital as O Rajagopal nearly pulled off a surprise and polled 2.8 lakh votes to finish second. In Kasaragod, the defeat was bitter given the scale of investment. Current state preside K Surendran finished third and the margin of loss was over 2 lakh votes.
Buoyed by the campaign centred on Sabarimala issue, BJP spent Rs 83.5 lakhs on poster, banner and hoardings in Pathanamthitta in 2019. In terms of booth expenses and election offices an amount of Rs 93.5 lakhs was spent in Thiruvananthapuram, Rs 79 lakhs in Pathanamthitta and Rs 55 lakhs in Attingal.
But the official figures may not tell a the full tale, poll watchers said. “The undisclosed amount spent by a candidate and party in an election would be much higher than the official figures,” claim people associated with elections campaigns.
