Punjab is known for its vibrant music, dance, cuisine, and festivals. The traditional forms of Punjabi music and dance, such as Bhangra and Giddha, are renowned around the world and are enjoyed by people of all ages
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Punjab is also an agricultural powerhouse, producing a large volume of food grains, fruits, and vegetables. The state is often referred to as the breadbasket of India, and its fertile land is a significant contributor to the country's food security.
Punjabis are known for their warm hospitality and friendly nature, and the state is home to several religious and historical sites that attract visitors from all over the world. The Golden Temple in Amritsar is one such site, and it is the spiritual centre of the Sikh religion.
Overall, Punjab is a vibrant and diverse state that has a lot to offer to both its residents and visitors. Its rich culture, fertile land, and friendly people make it a great place to live, work, and explore.
Punjab has 117 Assembly constituencies and 13 Lok Sabha Constituencies. In the 2022 Punjab Vidhan Sabha Election, AAP came out as the single largest party followed by INC. AAP increased its vote share by over 18%, whereas INC saw a fall in vote share of 15.5%.
If election expenditures for the 2022 Punjab Vidhan Sabha are observed, then it is clear that BJP had the lion’s share in expenditure. It accounted for 44.34% of all the filed election expenditures in the 2022 Punjab Vidhan Sabha Election. BJP was followed by INC and SAD at 25.5% and 20% respectively.
The election expenditure data has been obtained from the Election Commission of India (https://eci.gov.in/). Also, analysis of election expenditure is carried out for Recognised Political Parties (RPP) only which are either classified as National Party or as State Party by the Election Commission. Registered Unrecognised Political Parties (RUPP) election expenditures are not analysed here.
From the election expenditure table above, the following can be summarised:
1. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spent the most on the election campaign, which suggests that they were willing to invest heavily in their efforts to win the election.
2. The Indian National Congress (INC) was the second-highest spender, which indicates that they were also putting significant resources into the campaign. Also, as INC was the incumbent party in the state, therefore, its higher election expenditure to retain power is in line with the expectations. However, INC’s election expenditure and its conversion into seats won are quite low (analysis done below).
3. State parties generally spent much less on the election than national parties. However, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) was the highest-spending state party. As Punjab is the only state with real significance for SAD, it is not un-intuitive to be the largest spender as a state party.
4.The biggest gainer in the 2022 Punjab Vidhan Sabha election was Aam Aadmi Party, and it was the fourth largest political spender, but emerged as the largest party. Also, prior to the Punjab Vidhan Sabha election, AAP was a State Party, however, now it’s a National Party.
5.Lastly, BSP, SP, and the Left parties spend almost 2.5% of the total expenditure.
The above table shows that Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was the most efficient political party for deriving maximum value for its expenditure. It cost slightly over ₹6 Lakhs to win a seat. AAP is followed by BSP, it took slightly lower ₹1 Crore to win a seat. For INC and BJP, the cost is significantly higher compared to AAP at ₹1.1 Crore and ₹18 Crore.
BJP, SAD and INC are the least efficient political parties and given the volume of their election expenditure. They were unable to secure enough victory in enough constituencies given the extent of their expenditure.
The above (Per Seat Won Expenditure) analysis should be taken with a pinch of salt because, besides monetary expenditure, there are numerous other factors that determine victory in an assembly constituency. For instance, the popularity of a leader, political party, the incumbent regime in the state; caste, religion, community-based candidate selection, and under-current for a particular party, among others. Also, more importantly, there are expenditures that are off the books which makes it impossible to make a significant comparison.
Therefore, in conclusion, it can be expressed that given Punjab in India’s electoral politics, political parties, especially BJP and INC, will continue to expend substantial financial and other resources to retain/gain power.
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