Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, which started from Tamil Nadu on September 7, 2022, and ended in Jammu and Kashmir on January 30, 2023, cost the Congress about Rs 50 lakh per day. In terms of the distance of the journey, the Grand Old Party spent Rs 1.59 lakh per kilometre on average, as per party documents.
The Annual Audit Report of the Congress, filed with the Election Commission of India this week, also shows that against its income of Rs 452 crore, the party has spent Rs 467 crore during 2022-23. This included Rs 192 crore worth of election expenditure.
Counted under ‘Administrative and General Expenses’, the party said it spent Rs 71.83 crore on the Bharat Jodo Yatra. The Yatra was launched in Kanyakumari and ended in Srinagar. It lasted 145 days, including breaks in between. A distance of nearly 4,500 kilometres was covered in the Yatra.
Political parties have to file financial accounts with the ECI. They have to submit contributions, audited annual accounts and election expenditure statements.
Compared to the previous year, Congress party’s expenditure under ‘Administrative and General Expenses’ in 2022-23 has jumped by 2.6 times.
Also, the Grand Old Party’s overall expenditure has gone up from Rs 400 crore to Rs 467 crore between 2021-22 and 2022-23. On the other hand, the party’s income has gone down from Rs 541 crore in 2021-22 to Rs 452 crore in 2022-23, the report shows.
The donations, grants and contributions to the party have dropped significantly by around Rs 80 crore — from Rs 347 crore in 2021-22 to Rs 268 crore in 2022-23.
Currently, Gandhi is undertaking the second such journey between Manipur and Mumbai — the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra.
On January 27, the Congress launched the ‘Donate for Nyay’ crowd-funding campaign as part of the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra. Under this initiative, individuals can donate to the party for every kilometre of the Yatra.
As per the official website of the Yatra, many individuals donated amounts ranging from Rs 20 per kilometre to Rs 100 per kilometre to Gandhi. This ranged from Rs 1.34 lakh to Rs 6.70 lakh. The ‘Donate for Nyay’ campaign has received approximately Rs 4 crore in donations for the Congress in just four days, it added.
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