BJP spent Rs 60 crore on Narendra Modi's 3D rallies during Lok Sabha polls

NEW DELHI: The 3D holographic campaign, a novelty in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and a critical component of Narendra Modi's hi-tech campaign enabling him to address more than 700 virtual rallies, cost BJP over Rs 60 crore. The licence fee alone for two months during the campaign accounted for Rs 10 crore.

The poll expenditure details, submitted by BJP to the Election Commission, reveal that the 3D virtual rallies Modi addressed between March and May had cost the party Rs 51.35 crore, besides the licence fees.

Besides the virtual rallies, Modi also addressed 450-odd rallies in the run-up to the parliamentary elections.

This was, however, not the first time Modi had used the latest technology to reach out to his constituents. During the 2012 Gujarat assembly elections, the BJP stalwart had created a Guinness world record when his holographic 3D speech was simultaneously broadcast from 53 locations across more than 25 cities in the state.

Meticulously planned and executed, all holographic speeches were recorded by Modi at his residence in Gujarat where he returned every night after a string of rallies through the day in different parts of the country.

In addition to the expenditure on 3D campaign, BJP spent about Rs 487 crore in propaganda activities which included Rs 304 crore on advertisements in print, electronic, cable and news portals besides bulk SMSs.


In one of the most extensive media campaigns carried out by any leader so far, Modi is said to have travelled over 3 lakh km, criss-crossing the whole country. The party spent a fortune on the travel of its star campaigners, including Modi. The travel expenses of its star campaigners were around Rs 78 crore while those of the other leaders around Rs 11 crore.

The high-tech campaigning was not restricted to holographic virtual rallies. In fact, the party had pitched LED raths to propagate party's poll promises in various parts of the country.

Running the LED raths, including event management, insurance and generators, between March and May had cost the party over Rs 19 crore.

The campaign was made successful by lakhs of cadres who were well-informed through high-tech call centres that the party had set up in various states. According to the information furnished by the party there is a separate list of at least 18 functional call centres on which the party spent about Rs 8.50 crore.

Cadres were informed about day-to-day events in their respective constituencies and through internal surveys that the party had conducted during the poll campaign. On surveys, the party spent about Rs 6 lakh during March-May.