New Delhi: Senior Congress chief Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra throughout India has price the occasion greater than Rs 71 crore, in accordance with the Congress audit report for 2022-2023 submitted to the Election Fee of India and launched on Wednesday. This was about one-sixth of the occasion’s complete price range expenditure.
Gandhi – who’s at the moment within the second section of the yatra – had toured 14 states and Union Territories from September 2022 to January 2023 within the first section, from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu to Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir. He walked greater than 4,000 km in a interval of 5 months.
Though the yatra acquired ample consideration, it didn’t end in a lot electoral acquire for the Congress, particularly within the Hindi heartland. Nevertheless, occasion leaders have credited the Yatra for her victory within the Karnataka and Telangana state polls final yr.
The occasion’s complete expenditure elevated barely to Rs 467 crore in comparison with the earlier fiscal. Quite the opposite, revenue fell to Rs 452 crore, down about Rs 90 crore from the earlier yr, the report mentioned.
In keeping with the audit report, a big portion of the expenditure was on the pre-poll surveys. A complete of Rs 40 crore was spent on such investigations, a drastic improve in comparison with the fiscal yr 2021-22 when the occasion had spent solely Rs 23 lakh on such investigations.
Through the audit interval, the occasion fought elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh in 2022 and Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya in early 2023. The occasion received in Himachal Pradesh.
In 2021-22, when Congress’s expenditure on pre-poll surveys was very low, the occasion fought and misplaced elections in Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Manipur, amongst others. The states of Tamil Nadu and West Bengal additionally went to the polls early on this monetary yr.
A big a part of occasion expenditure is a part of “Administrative and Common Expenditure” and “Election Expenditure”. Within the latter circumstances, “printed supplies similar to manifestos, pamphlets, posters, handbills, and so forth.” accounting for over Rs 18 crore.
On the income facet, the occasion acquired donations and contributions value Rs 268 crore in 2022-23 and about two-thirds of that got here from electoral bonds, value Rs 171 crore. However like the full donations, funds via electoral bonds for the occasion have additionally declined in comparison with the earlier monetary yr.
Over time, the Congress has led the opposition’s assault on the Modi authorities over the electoral bond programme.
In September final yr, Jairam Ramesh, the occasion’s common secretary in command of communications, mentioned on social media: “The electoral bond scheme is among the most diabolical acts of the Modi authorities that undermines our electoral system and democracy.”
Greater than Rs 42 crore was earned by the Congress from “charges and subscriptions”, together with revenue from “membership charge, utility charge, participant charge, membership fund, annual charge and membership belt”.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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