India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spent over Rs 340 crore (£37.1 million) in the assembly polls in five states held earlier this year, while the Indian National Congress shelled out more than Rs 194 crore (£21.2 million) for its campaigning in these states, according to the election expenditure reports of the two parties.
According to the report filed by the BJP and put in public domain by the Election Commission, the party spent more than Rs 340 crore on its campaigns for the Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Goa and Punjab assembly elections held early this year.
The BJP's spending report showed that it spent over Rs 221 crore (£24.1 million) in Uttar Pradesh; over Rs 23 crore (£2.51 million) in Manipur; Rs 43.67 crore (£4.7 million) in Uttarakhand; more than Rs 36 crore (£3.9 million) in Punjab; and Rs 19 crore (£2.07 million) in Goa.
According to the report filed by the Congress, it spent over Rs 194 crore for campaigning and related expenditure in the five states.
Army personnel stand amid the rubble following an explosion inside the police headquarters at Kohat in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on September 18, 2026. An explosion at a historic police headquarters in northern Pakistan on September 18 killed at least eight people and wounded 35 more, officials said, with the country's president swiftly blaming a militant group. Getty Images
Mourners read the holy Quran while sitting around the grave of a paramilitary personnel of the Frontier Corps (FC) who was killed during the Afghanistan-Pakistan border clashes, in Kohat on October 17, 2025. A ceasefire along the frontier between Afghanistan and Pakistan was holding on October 16, officials on both sides said, after dozens of troops and civilians were killed in cross-border clashes.Getty Images
