BJP three times richer than Congress
The BJP reported an income of Rs 2410 crore in 2018-19, nearly 135% more than its income in the previous financial year.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), ahead of elections, experienced a 134 percent surge in income for the year 2018-19 over its Rs 1,027 crore income shown in 2017-18. BJP declared the earnings in its annual audit report for 2018-19 filed with the Election Commission.
In 2017-18, the BJP had declared an income of Rs 210 crore from the electoral bonds route. In contrast, the Congress received Rs 383 crore through this instrument, comprising nearly 42% of its total income.
In 2017-18, the year in which electoral bond scheme was first announced, the BJP received Rs 210 crore (20% of its income) while the Congress received just Rs 5 crore (2.5% of its income).
The cumulative income for the ruling party was over Rs 2,410 crore.
The total expenditure declared by the BJP for 2018-19 is over Rs 1005 crore, compared to Rs 470 crore spent by the Congress, which marks a 32% rise over its Rs 758 crore expenditure during 2017-18.
A majority of BJP's spending was on election or general party propaganda – the BJP spent 79% on this while the Congress spent 66%. The gap in this kind of spending was higher in 2017-18 when the BJP spent 75% while the Congress spent just 15% of their incomes on elections or general party propaganda.
The Congress, in contrast, has declared an income of Rs 918 crore and expenditure totalling Rs 470 crore in its annual audit report for 2018-19, now uploaded on the EC website. The main opposition party at the Centre received over Rs 383 crore from electoral bonds, which marks a massive surge from its Rs 5 crore income from electoral bonds in 2017-18.