Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) : Exceeding Poll Expenditure Norms?

By Deepak Parvatiyar

January 6, 2015

Election campaigning is a costly affair and none of the political parties take chances when it comes to splurging on such campaigns. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), despite the popular perception that it spends the least on their campaign trail, is no exception.

It is on a publicity blitzkrieg to capture the voters’ attention in Delhi for the February elections since November! In the process, it has left other political parties far behind on campaigning spree.

AAP yet to Comply with Election Commission’s Norms on Election Expenses

There is nothing wrong in such campaigns if political parties comply with the Election Commission of India’s norms and stipulated budget for such campaigns. However, like the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the AAP too has failed to comply with the EC’s mandatory requirement to submit the Expenditure Report whether on the expenditure incurred during the 2013 Delhi Assembly elections or the 2014 General Elections. The Congress, though, did file its expenditure report on the 2013 assembly elections but has not yet filed the returns on the 2014 General Elections. The EC guidelines stipulates political parties to submit their poll expenditure accounts to the EC within 75 days of the last date of polling, in case of Assembly elections, and within 90 days in case of Parliamentary polls.

AAP in the Eye of Storm over its Publicity Blitzkrieg

It is a well known fact that political parties spend much more than the stipulated amount during election campaigning. Many studies have pointed out this trend. Even the AAP had accused the BJP of “under reporting” expenses, when it was found through the data submitted to the EC that the Lotus had spent Rs 22 lakh less than the AAP’s Rs 56 lakh on poll campaigning in Gurgaon during the last summer General Elections. The AAP’s ideologue Yogendra Yadav had then lost the election to the BJP’s Rao Inderjit Singh in Gurgaon.

However, the kind of money pumped into the campaign though had busted the popular myth that the AAP spends the least on their campaign trail.

It is, therefore, no surprise that the AAP’s political rivals have again targeted the AAP for its campaign expenses. The Congress has even sought to give such campaigns by the AAP a political twist by saying that it is on a spending spree on hoardings and posters in a desperate attempt to remain “politically relevant” in Delhi as the people have lost their faith in AAP. The BJP, on its part, has even accused the AAP of indulging into “money-laundering” to generate funds for such a campaign that it claims involves huge amount of money.

The AAP is, so far, silent on the campaign expenses. None has yet claimed sponsoring its publicity campaign like in the last General Elections when at least in Mumbai where the party had jumped into the hoardings bandwagon, the firm responsible for garnering the billboard space had claimed providing free advertising billboard to AAP as it supported the “party’s agenda”.

AAP’s Ad Campaigns Visible across NCT of Delhi

As AAP’s ad campaigns run on every major radio station and its billboards and hoardings dot every major road, bus shelter, Metro coaches, they naturally raise eyebrows ostensibly as they raise questions on how the AAP could afford to put so many hoardings only with the donations that they have received thus far? The AAP website claims that it received only about Rs 4.25 crore since November 01, 2014.

Each hoarding costs around Rs 2.5-3 lakh per month, depending on the area. (Many of the AAP’s hoardings are on upscale areas and arterial roads). However, the AAP has adopted an aggressive posture on such speculations. It recently stated that those who had any problem were free to approach the Election Commission with a complaint.

The AAP has been quick in learning the trick of the political trade. Only last summer, Yogendra Yadav had pointed out that the entire expenditure system was “faulty” and that the “ expenses and accounts” could be manipulated.

It is yet another sad commentary on the state of things on how election campaigns are run by flouting rules. However, the AAP was considered an exception and seen by many to restore some order. Yet, even it was served a show cause notice by the Election Commission on December 7, 2013 over a “discrepancy” between the amount shown as poll expenses and that recorded in a shadow register maintained by the EC. While the AAP’s expenditure was shown to be of Rs 3 lakh, the shadow expenditure register showed the figure as Rs 16 lakh!

Other Parties too not Transparent in Poll Expenditure

The AAP becomes one among many as even its rivals are no exceptions. Any demand for transparency in poll expenses by rival political parties, therefore, sounds frivolous since none of the major political parties fulfil the norm of submitting their respective poll expenditure to the EC report on time. After all, stakes have always been very high for winning elections and parties do crib that the ceiling of Rs 16 lakh for a candidate of an Assembly seat and Rs 40 lakh for a Lok Sabha candidate was highly inadequate!

The focus, therefore, shifts to the Election Commission. For long it has sought amendments to the Representation of People Act to make it mandatory for all parties to furnish records of their expenditure within the stipulated period. This is not much for an asking considering that in the USA, parties furnish expenditure details on a daily basis. Will their counterparts in India follow suit?