New Delhi: The Lokniti-Centre for the Study Societies has found that the Bharatiya Janata Party spent considerably more on social media advertising than the Congress in the three states were the BJP recently won assembly elections – Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

The study focuses on money spent on Facebook and Instagram. The difference was clearly visible on the official state accounts of the two parties (not counting accounts of individual leaders or any non-official accounts posting party content).

Madhya Pradesh saw the smallest difference in spending between the two parties. “In the 90 days preceding the elections [in MP], the BJP’s expenditure was more than that of the Congress,” the Centre noted in an article published in The Hindu. While the BJP spent Rs 94 lakh in the state, the Congress spent Rs 92 lakh on Facebook and Instagram ads.

However, these are obviously not the only accounts posting content that can classify as political advertising. The top ten such accounts, taken together, spent Rs 1.1 crore in Madhya Pradesh, the study notes.

In Chhattisgarh, the official BJP account spent Rs 79.7 lakh in the 90 days before the election, and the Congress spent Rs 4.7 lakh.

In Rajasthan, the BJP spent Rs 94 lakh and the Congress Rs 2.18 lakh in the 90 days leading up to the elections. The study found that the “BJP spent more than the Congress on ads with negative undertones”.