The AAP spent 31% less on the 2025 Delhi Vidhan Sabha polls than the elections in the national capital in 2020, while the expenditure of the Congress increased by 67% according to the two parties’ election expenditure reports.
The reports, brought out by the Election Commission this week, indicate that the AAP, which didn’t manage to come to power for a third consecutive term, incurred expenses of Rs 14.51 crore, less than the Rs 21.06 crore it had reported in 2020. The Assembly elections proved to be a complete debacle for the AAP with the BJP winning 48 out of the 70 seats and wiping out the AAP to just 22. The Congress couldn’t even start its account for the third time in a row in Delhi.
According to the AAP’s expenditure report, Rs 12.12 crore was spent on general party propaganda, of which Rs 5 crore was utilized on media ads, telephonic calls, bulk SMS service, and Google ads. A total of Rs 2.39 crore was spent on candidates’ expenses. All in all, the party received Rs 16.09 crore during the election time and had a closing bank balance of Rs 9.96 crore.
The Congress reported Rs 46.18 crore expenditure this time around. To which, in 2020, it had claimed to have spent Rs 27.68 crore for the Assembly polls.
The Congress incurred Rs 40.13 crore on “general party propaganda” and Rs 6.05 crore on candidates, including the amount spent on social media campaigns. The party incurred Rs 17.78 crore on advertisements, of which Rs 2.28 crore was for print advertisements to Associated Journals Ltd, the publisher of The National Herald owned by the Gandhi family. The party’s receptions during the election period totaled Rs 64.31 crore and its closing balance was Rs 53.66 crore.
Parties are mandated to provide their election expenditure returns to the EC following each election. The EC has yet to release the BJP’s Delhi polls spend report in its entirety. However, it has released one report indicating the spending of individual parties on candidates. In the BJP’s case, the party offered Rs 25 lakh to each of 68 candidates, or Rs 17 crore overall.
Breakdown of Expenditures
Congress:
Total Spending: ₹46.18 crore
Principal Areas of Spending:
Media and Advertising: Most of Congress’s spending went on advertising in the media. Initiative Media, an ad agency working with brands like Amazon and Unilever, was given almost ₹14.5 crore for print and television advertisements .
General Party Propaganda: It includes spending on media advertisements, Google advertisements, and calls.
AAP:
Total Spending: ₹14.51 crore
Principal Areas of Spending:
Digital Advertising: AAP spent most on digital media, with Google alone being paid more than ₹1.4 crore for space.
General Party Propaganda: Like Congress, AAP’s spending involved media advertisements and campaign literature.
Electoral Results
The massive financial outlay did not yield any seats for Congress in the 2025 Delhi Assembly elections. AAP won 22 seats, though this was a reduction from their earlier count of 62 seats in the 2020 elections .
Analysis
The gap between spending and electoral performance implies that increased spending does not always mean improved electoral results. AAP’s emphasis on online advertising and targeted campaigning could have helped it in terms of relative success against Congress’s old-school media-centric strategy.
Telegraph India
Conclusion
The 2025 Delhi Assembly elections reflect the intricate dynamics between campaign spending and election results. While money is important for campaigning, smart distribution and fruitful participation of voters have a lot to do with winning the polls.
