BJP hiked Delhi poll spend by 40% in 2025

BJP's spending on Delhi candidates surged to ₹18.5 crore in 2025, up from ₹8.57 crore in 2020, with total expenses hitting ₹57.65 crore.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) more than doubled its spending on individual candidates in the 2025 Delhi Assembly elections, even as its overall expenditure rose by 40% compared to 2020, according to the party’s latest filings with the Election Commission of India (ECI).

A BJP rally in Delhi in January 2025. (HT Archive)

The BJP, according to its declarations with ECI made public on Monday, spent ₹18.5 crore on 68 candidates — including ₹25 lakh in direct transfers to each — compared to ₹8.57 crore in 2020, when it paid ₹10 lakh each to 64 candidates.

Overall, its total election spending rose to ₹57.65 crore from ₹41.06 crore in 2020.

Much of this went into media advertising, which alone accounted for ₹29 crore. Of this, ₹1.18 crore went to DB Corp, which publishes Danik Bhaskar; ₹11.8 lakh to Bharat Prakashan, which publishes Organiser and Panchjanya; and ₹9.44 lakh each to Aadhyaasi Media, and Kovai Media, which publish OpIndia, Swarajya respectively. Additionally, ₹1.18 crore was paid to One97 Communications, which owns Paytm, a digital and financial services technology company. The BJP’s Delhi state unit spent more than ₹25 crore in advertisements.

“General propaganda” costs stood at ₹39.14 crore.

The party’s spending spike coincided with its return to power in Delhi after 27 years, winning 48 of the 68 seats it contested. The AAP, which contested all 70, won 22.

In contrast, the Congress spent ₹46.18 crore and the AAP ₹14.51 crore overall. Candidate-specific spending by the Congress was ₹6.05 crore; for AAP, it was just ₹2.39 crore.

The Congress focused instead on virtual campaigns, spending ₹5.95 crore on behalf of its candidates, while the AAP transferred ₹2.23 crore to 23 candidates, 15 of whom lost. The Congress also spent ₹18 crore on media advertising, including bulk SMS campaigns, and paid ₹2.68 crore to Associated Journals Ltd, publisher of National Herald, which is under investigation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

In 2020, the AAP and the Congress had spent ₹21 crore and ₹27.68 crore, respectively.