YCP Becomes India’s 3rd Highest Spending Party

The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) released a report on the expenditure incurred by various political parties during the general elections held in 2024. The ADR aims to increase transparency in the election process and also accountability in the political parties.

According to the report, the YCP, despite being a regional party, stood third in the country spending a whopping Rs 325.67 crore during the polls, while the BRS is in the seventh position with Rs 103.26 crore expenses and the TDP in a much lower position spending Rs 34.25 crore for the elections.

Both the national parties occupied the first and second positions with ruling BJP topping the list spending Rs 1,493.01 crore and the Congress stood in the second position with Rs 620.14 crore. The hundreds of crores spent by regional parties like the YCP and BRS indicate the heavy corruption by those outfits. Usually, political parties are funded by individuals and organisations affiliated to them, with an eye to reap the benefits after their party comes to power.

Along with the general elections, Assembly elections were also held in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim last year. The report stated that all the political parties spent heavily on the elections, as it would determine their future. All the political parties together spent Rs 3,352.81 crore during the 2024 elections. In the regional parties list, the BRS stood in the 5th position while the TDP occupied the 7th position. The BJD spent Rs 278 crore, Trinamool Congress Rs 147 crore, DMK Rs 145 crore, BSP Rs 66 crore, and Samajwadi Party Rs 48 crore.

The ADR also collects information about the criminal records of the political leaders, financial frauds and all the financial transactions of the political parties and reveals the same to the public. It takes up several programmes to regulate the election expenditure, improve governance and reduce corruption.