The battle for Karnataka is not limited to public meetings where netas — from the Centre and state — indulge in political one-upmanship. It is also playing out on the pages of major English and Kannada news dailies, which means an ushering of the proverbial achhe din for most media organisations.

Both the Bharatiya Janata Party and Indian National Congress did not wish to share the exact spend, but industry watchers in the media buying space have told Newslaundry that the BJP budget is close to Rs 300 crore (most of which is spent on print ads) and the Congress’ hovers at Rs 50-60 crore. The Janata Dal (Secular) is way less at about Rs 10 crore. (These figures include creative and media buying costs for print, TV and radio. Newslaundry could not verify these figures independently.)

A marketing official in one of the leading Kannada dailies told us that the BJP had bought ad space worth Rs 3 crore. The figure for Congress and JD(S) stood at Rs 2 crore. Meanwhile, the Karnataka’s Mahila Empowerment Party had bought ad space worth Rs 50 lakh starting last Saturday up until the polling date.

The advantage BJP seems to have in terms of its big budget is evident when you glance at major English and Kannada newspapers. For about two weeks now, the space below the masthead in many prominent newspapers has been occupied by BJP ads.

In Deccan Herald, the party has managed to secure the bottom space. The paper’s masthead is bigger than other dailies — a reason why the space below is not usually up for sale.

However, in its Kannada offering, Praja Vani, the ads are placed below the masthead.

A day after the BJP manifesto was released, top newspapers carried front-page jacket ads with bullet points highlighting various promises the party had made.

Besides the jacket ads, the party had placed quarter-page ads on the front page on the PM’s public meeting.

Contrast this to the space that Congress has managed to secure and its largely watered-down presence. The party’s ads — mostly half or quarter page — have featured in the inside pages (four or five) over the past two weeks. While the BJP places two to three ads in big dailies like TOI every day, the Congress’ ads are not regular and almost never more than one.

A common strategy for most state governments, though, is to place pre-election government ads that can work as publicity for the party in power. These are paid by the taxpayer as opposed to ads published by political parties.

Beginning this year, the Karnataka government placed quite a few ads that essentially worked as advertisements for the Congress.

Meanwhile, in the run-up to the elections, Janata Dal (Secular) has altogether skipped placing ads in the English media. Most of the party ads appear in regional newspapers.

“Media buying is usually big business during elections, but this time it is subdued, though the BJP is leading the charge. The visibility of the Congress is much lower because it’s PR and media buying strategy are not driven by professionalism. The JD(S) which has been out power for over a decade does not have deep pockets and cannot offer any competition to its rivals,” said Gautham Machaiah, political commentator and senior journalist.

BJP joint spokesperson S Prakash told Newslaundry that the party had booked the front-page slots about two to three months ago and focussed on a “positive campaign” as well as highlighting misgovernance of the current dispensation.

State Congress campaign committee general secretary Milind Dharmasena said he wasn’t too bothered by the BJP’s front-page presence. “In urban areas, readers may not have time to go beyond the front page, but in rural areas, readers go through each page carefully. They won’t miss our messaging.” Dharmasena also said the party is relying more on door-to-door campaigning and has asked its booth-level workers to spread the message on the party’s “good governance”. “We don’t have friends like Adani and Ambani to compete with their [BJP’s] ads,” he added.

Ramesh Babu, spokesperson for JD(S), said his party hasn’t spent more than Rs 1-2 crore on advertisements and that resources have been a constant struggle. He says in some constituencies, candidates have placed ads with their own money. “People are aware of the issues and most people are from rural areas, they will not be influenced by their [BJP and Congress’] ads.”

It’s just five days till the state goes to election and the last leg of campaigning will see a bevy of leaders from the BJP and Congress’ central leadership descend on Karnataka.

In her first public speech in the last two years, former Congress President Sonia Gandhi will address a rally in Bijapur in North Karnataka tomorrow. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to address an additional five rallies in the next two days.

On May 10, the state will go into “election silence” when Section 126(1)(b) of the Representation of People Act will come into play. The Section prohibits, “the display to the public any election matter by means of cinematograph, television or other similar apparatus” within the 48-hour period prior to the end of polling is prohibited. “Election matter” is anything that is “intended or calculated to influence or affect the result of an election”.

The idea is to allow the voter a “cooling-off” period so she can think calmly and make her choice without being influenced. The “silent period”, however, will have no bearing on advertisements on newspapers. By the look of it, it will be Modi, Shah and Yeddy’s beaming faces that will greet Karnataka on the morning of May 12, urging them to press the lotus button.

(With inputs from Anil Lulla)