Congress outspent the BJP on party propaganda and social media campaigns in the Delhi assembly elections this year, but lagged significantly behind on candidate-related expenses, election expenditure data analysed by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) shows.

Despite the heavier push on messaging, the Congress failed to translate spending into electoral gains, while the BJP, which spent more overall and invested more heavily in candidates, secured a decisive victory.

According to the ADR analysis of election expenditure reports submitted to the Election Commission of India, the BJP’s total spending stood at Rs 57.65 crore, higher than the Rs 46.19 crore declared by the Congress. In terms of funds collected for the 2025 Delhi assembly elections, the BJP raised Rs 88.7 crore, outpacing the Congress, which collected Rs 64.3 crore.

The election, held for 70 assembly seats, saw the BJP emerge victorious with 48 seats. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won 22 seats, while the Congress failed to secure a single seat.

ADR data showed that the Congress spent substantially on party propaganda and social media outreach, while its spending on candidates was lower than that of the BJP. The BJP, by contrast, channelled a larger share of its expenditure into candidate-related costs.

AAP declared expenses of Rs 12.12 crore on party propaganda and Rs 2.4 crore on candidates, bringing its total expenditure to Rs 14.5 crore. It spent nearly Rs 3 crore on social media campaigns, compared with just Rs 5.26 lakh declared by the BJP and Rs 5.95 crore by the Congress.

Overall, nine political parties declared total election expenses of Rs 120.3 crore, including Rs 27 crore spent on candidates. Apart from the BJP, Congress and AAP, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) was the only party to report spending above Rs 1 crore, at Rs 1.8 crore.

Total funds collected by all parties during the election stood at Rs 170.68 crore. This included Rs 88.7 crore by the BJP, Rs 64.3 crore by the Congress and Rs 16.1 crore by AAP.

A vast majority of funds were collected at the central headquarters level of the parties.

Also, cheque/DD was the most preferred mode of collection at over 74 per cent, while nearly Rs 26 per cent of funds were collected through cash.

For expenditure also, only 0.04 per cent or Rs 3.7 lakh was spent in cash, according to declarations made by the parties.

The AIMIM, which contested in two seats but did not win any, is the only party that incurred no expenditure, according to its declaration.

The Congress and AAP contested on all 70 seats, while the BJP contested from 68 seats and gave two seats to its allies.

Total funds collected by six parties that contested both the 2020 and 2025 elections rose by nearly nine per cent to nearly Rs 170 crore this time. Of these, the Congress saw the maximum increase of over 222 per cent, while the same for the BJP declined by 25 per cent and rose by nearly six per cent for AAP.

Total expenses for these six parties rose by nearly 39 per cent between the 2020 and 2025 elections. In the case of the Congress, the increase was nearly 161 per cent and 20.5 per cent for the BJP, while AAP spent nearly 32 per cent less funds.