Political party funding is the means which a party raises money for its functioning and campaigns. Party members, individual supporters, organisations which support a party or its ideologies or which could benefit from the party’s victory, contribute to this funding. Political parties can also receive foreign funds.

Parties need money to reach voters, to advertise in print, electronic and social media, to pay party workers and to organise election rallies. (in the 2019 general election, a staggering Rs 55,000-60,000 crore was spent by the political parties on election-related activities, according to a study by the Centre for Media Studies (CMS), a not-for-profit multi-disciplinary development research think-tank. The Bharatiya Janata Party spent about 45% of this total amount!).

 

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