The ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) not only swept the general elections held in April this year, the party also became immensely richer in the process with its savings having increased six folds during the elections.
The expenditure report submitted by the BJD to the Election Commission of India shows that it collected Rs 27.4 crore — Rs 1.59 crore in cash and 25.85 crore through cheques — from various sources after the announcement of the elections.
The opening balance of the regional party was Rs 2.73 crore before the elections while the closing balance amounted to Rs 19.13 crore. The party claimed to have spent Rs 10.48 crore during the elections held simultaneously to lok Sabha and State Assembly. The BJD, which came to power for the fourth consecutive time, secured 117 seats in the 147-member Assembly and 20 out of the State’s 21 lok Sabha seats.
The party, led by its president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, incurred an expenditure of Rs 2.88 crore on star campaigners while it spent Rs 7.89 lakh for other leaders. The party spent Rs 4.90 crore for promotional advertisements in the various media, said the report. The party’s total expense on candidates was Rs 2.13 crore.
The Aama Odisha Party (AOP), led by Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, spent Rs 19.75 lakh while it had received Rs 7.10 lakh during the polls. The opening balance of the party was Rs 13.67 lakh. Pyarimohan Mohapatra’s Odisha Jana Morcha’s gross expenditure was Rs 8.74 lakh against total receipts of Rs 1.01 crore.
The two national parties, the Congress and the BJP, have not submitted their expenditure reports for the lok Sabha and Assembly polls to the commission so far.