Chennai, Sept 25:
The DMK spent Rs 197.84 crore and the AIADMK Rs 112.39 crore during the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, according to the election expenditure affidavits filed by the parties with the Election Commission.
The DMK’s expenditure included Rs 70 crore on newspaper, television and social-media advertisements, while its total campaign expenditure was put at Rs 149.89 crore. The party spent Rs 5.90 crore on air travel for DMK president M.K. Stalin and Makkal Needhi Maiam leader Kamal Haasan.
The DMK also paid Rs 6.61 crore to ‘Pen’ company run by Stalin’s son-in-law Sabarisan, according to the expenditure details. The party had Rs 365 crore in its account before the election and received Rs 126 crore in donations during the election period. After meeting its election expenses, it had Rs 319.39 crore in balance.
The AIADMK reported total election expenditure of Rs 112.39 crore across Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry. Of this, around Rs 103 crore was spent on media and social-media advertising through Pramanya Strategy Consulting. The party had Rs 313 crore before the election, received Rs 87.41 crore during the election period and had around Rs 295 crore remaining after the polls.
The Naam Tamilar Katchi reported expenditure of Rs 1.37 crore. It had Rs 19 lakh before the election and received Rs 2.20 crore during the campaign period.