According to the Election Expenditure Statement, the BJP has spent a whopping ₹ 252 crore in the assembly elections held in Assam, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Kerala earlier this year. Interestingly, almost 60 per cent of this has been used for campaigning in the Trinamool Congress-ruled state of West Bengal.
In the statement submitted to the poll panel, it was mentioned that of the ₹ 252, 02, 71,753 spent by the BJP, ₹ 43.81 crore was for the Assam polls and ₹ 4.79 crore for the Puducherry assembly election.
In Tamil Nadu, where the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) took the reins of power from its arch-rival AIADMK, the BJP, which got just 2.6 per cent of the votes, spent ₹ 22.97 crore in its campaign. In Kerala, where the incumbent LDF retained power, the BJP spent ₹ 29.24 crore.
The BJP pushed full throttle in its campaign against the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, spending ₹ 151 crore in the state.
The election expenditure statements submitted by the political parties to the Election Commission have been put in the public domain by the poll panel.