In February 2025, Delhi will hold state assembly elections, prompting the BJP, Congress, and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to launch their political campaigns. AAP chief and former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal recently appeared as a guest on Raj Shamani’s podcast, where he refuted claims that the Delhi government had spent 488 crore on advertisements, calling the figures false and inaccurate.
After 44 minutes into the podcast, the host, Raj Shamani, asked Arvind Kejriwal, “As you mentioned, there have been some disturbances in your government in recent years,” referring to the Delhi CM and ministers’ jail terms and corruption allegations. “Is that why your advertising budget has increased, to repair the image dented by these issues?” Kejriwal responded, “On the contrary, my advertising budget has fallen exponentially.” The host then mentioned the reported 488 crore advertisement spending by the Delhi government. Kejriwal immediately countered, saying, “No, these figures are wrong.”
Fact Check
We began our fact-checking process by conducting a Google search to verify the Delhi government’s advertisement expenditure. During this search, we found a news report published by NewsLaundry on January 21, 2022. The article stated: ‘NewsLaundry filed an RTI inquiry asking how much the Delhi government spent on advertisements between March 1, 2020, and July 30, 2021. In response, the Directorate of Information and Publicity revealed that a total of ₹490 crore was spent on advertisements and publicity during this period.
The directorate broke down the expenditure into three parts. According to the RTI, ₹103.76 crore was spent in March 2020 alone, meaning the Delhi government spent over ₹3 crore daily on advertisements that month. Further details revealed that between April 2020 and March 2021, the AAP government spent ₹293.20 crore on advertisements, averaging ₹24.41 crore per month. From April 2021 to July 2021, the government spent ₹93.76 crore, averaging ₹23.5 crore per month.
Additionally, the article reported that in 2017-18, the Kejriwal government spent ₹117.76 crore on advertisements. In 2018-19, this expenditure decreased to ₹45 crore, but in 2019-20, it rose to nearly ₹200 crore. By 2020-21, the advertisement expenditure surged to ₹242.38 crore.’
We also found an article published by The Print on April 1, 2019, which stated: ‘The Kejriwal-led AAP government has spent over ₹274 crore on outdoor publicity since assuming office in February 2015. Outdoor publicity includes hoardings across the city, Metro network ads, and newspaper advertisements. This expenditure, accessed through an RTI query with the Delhi Directorate of Information & Publicity, amounts to an annual average of ₹68.5 crore—roughly four times what the Sheila Dikshit-led Congress government spent annually between 2008 and 2013 (₹17.4 crore).’
Further, we came across an NDTV article from 2015 that reported, “₹500 crore has been allocated for promoting the government and its projects over the next year.”
Moreover, an RTI filed by Dr. Vivek Pandey revealed: “Since 2015, Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party has spent ₹1,586 crore on advertisements. The expenditure on advertisements increased by 408% over the past five years.”
Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party spent ₹1586 crores on advertisement since 2015. Reveals my RTI
— Dr Vivek Pandey (@Vivekpandey21) April 27, 2024
Ads expenditure increased by 408% in past 5 years. Kejriwal must understand, Taxpayers money isn't a personal piggy bank.#LokasabhaElection2024 #Delhi #RTI #DelhiNews pic.twitter.com/2SFHthw1ar
In 2023, the Supreme Court of India criticized the Kejriwal government for failing to provide funds for the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) corridors to Alwar and Panipat. The court warned that if the dues were not paid within a week, the funds allocated for advertisements would be diverted to the project. The court emphasized that while budgetary provisions are a matter for the state government, national projects should not suffer due to excessive spending on advertisements.
Additionally, an Amar Ujala article published in July 2023 reported, “The Supreme Court directed the Delhi government to allocate ₹415 crore within two months for the RRTS. A bench comprising Justice SK Kaul and Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia remarked that if the AAP-led government could spend ₹1,000 crore on advertisements over the past three years, it could certainly fund essential infrastructure projects.”
| Claim | Arvind Kejriwal claimed that the Delhi government did not spend ₹488 crore on advertisements. |
| Claimed by | Arvind Kejriwal |
| Conclusion | The claim made by Arvind Kejriwal that the Delhi government did not spend ₹488 crore on advertisements is false. Infact, the Delhi government has spent over ₹1,000 crore on advertisements in the past 10 years, according to multiple RTI reports and news sources. |
