New Delhi: Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra across India cost the party over Rs 71 crore, according to the Congress’ audit report for 2022-2023 submitted to the Election Commission of India, published Wednesday. This was about a sixth of the total expenditure of the party in the fiscal.
Gandhi — who is currently on the second phase of the yatra — had travelled through 14 states and Union territories, from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu to Srinagar in Jammu & Kashmir, from September 2022 to January 2023 in the first phase. He walked over 4,000 km over a span of five months.
Though the yatra garnered enough attention, it did not result in much electoral gains for the Congress, especially in the Hindi heartland. However, party leaders have credited the yatra for its victory in the Karnataka and Telangana state polls last year.
The party’s total expenditure rose slightly to Rs 467 crore compared to the previous fiscal. On the contrary, income fell to Rs 452 crore, a dip of about Rs 90 crore compared to the previous year, according to the report.
A large chunk of expenditure was made on the pre-poll surveys, according to the audit report. A total of Rs 40 crore was spent on such surveys, a drastic rise compared to financial year 2021-2022 when the party had spent a mere Rs 23 lakh on such surveys.
During the period of the audit, the party fought elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh in 2022 and Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya in early 2023. The party won in Himachal Pradesh.
In 2021-2022, when the Congress’ expenditure on pre-poll surveys was very less, the party fought and lost elections in states including Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Manipur. The states of Tamil Nadu and West Bengal had also gone to the polls early in this fiscal.
A major chunk of party expenditure forms part of “Administrative & General Expenditure” and “Election Expenditure”. In the latter, “printed material like manifesto, pamphlets, posters, handbills, etc” accounts for over Rs 18 crore.
On the income side, in 2022-23, the party received donations and contributions worth Rs 268 crore and about two-thirds of these came from electoral bonds, amounting to Rs 171 crore. However, like overall donations, funds through electoral bonds have also declined for the party compared to the previous fiscal.
Over the years, the Congress has led the opposition’s attack on the Modi government over the electoral bond scheme.
In September last year, the party’s general secretary in-charge of communications, Jairam Ramesh, had said on social media: “The electoral bonds scheme is one of the most diabolical acts of the Modi government undermining our electoral system and democracy.”
Over Rs 42 crore was earned by the Congress from “fees and subscriptions”, which includes earnings through “membership fee, application fee, delegate fee, membership fund, annual fee and membership belt”.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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