BJP spends Rs 196.7 crore in Karnataka Assembly elections earlier this year, over 43% higher than Congress expenditure

BJP spent Rs 196.7 crore on fighting the Karnataka Assembly elections earlier this year, over 43% higher than the Congress expenditure of Rs 136.90 crore, according to the parties’ expenditure reports submitted to the Election Commission. Of the total spending of Rs 196.70 crore, the BJP declared Rs 149.36 crore as expenditure on general party propaganda and Rs 47.33 crore as expenditure on candidates. The party spent the most on advertisements — print, electronic, bulk messages, websites and TV channels — at Rs 78.10 crore. The report, published by the EC, also has details of payments for advertisements to TV channels, newspapers, Facebook, Google and WhatsApp.