BJP, SP raced to spend in UP poll

It was a keen contest between the Samajwadi Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party in this year’s Uttar Pradesh assembly elections when it came to poll expenditure.

Akhilesh Yadav led party spent ₹129.87 crore as compared to BJP’s ₹175 crore in JanuaryMarch polls leaving Mayawati led Bahujan Samaj Party way behind with spending of ₹40.1 crore.

The BJP swept the polls bagging 312 of the total 403 seats while the incumbent Samajwadi Party, which was contesting in alliance with the Congress, could win only 47. The Congress, which won in 7 assemblies, is yet to submit expenditure report to the Election Commission.

It was a big leap for the Samajwadi Party (SP) as it had spent only ₹20.6 crore in 2012 assembly polls. The BJP also doubled its poll spending in 2017.

BJP national spokesperson Shaina NC said, “Uttar Pradesh was the largest of the five states and so the expenditure there was more. It is not that Uttar Pradesh was a priority or a prestige issue for the BJP. You have to put it in perspective of the population, the number of constituencies and the land mass of the state.”

SP state spokesperson and the former UP minister Rajendra Chaudhary said : “Our was appropriate and justified expenditure as per the length and breadth of the state. We gave details to EC. But BJP’s ₹175 crore is understated. They spent far more than this. In fact, manifold.”

The elections were held after demonetisation of ₹1,000 and ₹500 notes with new ₹2,000 and ₹500 notes aimed at fleshing out black money. While then SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav had

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