India's costliest ever Lok Sabha elections: Govt spent 131% more than in 2009

New Delhi: This was the most expensive Lok Sabha elections entailing a cost of Rs 3426 crore to thenational exchequer, a substantial jump of 131 per cent over the expenses incurred in 2009.

In the last Lok Sabha polls five years back, the cost tothe exchequer was Rs 1483 crore.

The official expenses are part of the whopping Rs 30,000crore that were projected to be spent by the government,political parties and candidates in the nine-phased polls.The Election Commission attributed the jump in officialexpenses inflation besides a series of measures undertaken toincrease voting figures for the substantial rise in pollexpenditure.

[caption id=“attachment_78385” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AFP[/caption]

Several political parties have jumped into electoral frayand even the number of Independents contesting polls haveincreased. The more the candidates the more the expenditure.Voter awareness campaigns, distribution of voter slipahead of election date, use of Voter Verified Paper AuditTrail for the first time in these polls pushed the expenditurefurther.

According to the Election Commission, the cost ofconducting the general elections had already witnessed a20-fold increase in 2009 as against the first polls held in1952.In 1952, the cost was 60 paise per elector which became Rs12 in 2009.

Considering expenditure in absolute terms, Rs 10.45 crorewas spent in 1952, while Rs 1483 crore was the amountgovernment spent for 2009 polls.The 2004 Lok Sabha elections cost the government exchequerabout Rs 1,114 crore spent in the exercise. In 2004, per votercost was Rs 17 per elector.

There was an increase in the election cost by 17.53 percent vis-a-vis the 1999 general elections despite the factthat there was reduction in number of polling stations by11.26 per cent.In first six Lok Sabha polls, cost per elector was lessthan a rupee, but subsequent elections saw a massive hike inelection expenditure.

The entire expenditure on actual conduct of elections toLok Sabha is borne by the Centre. But, expenditure towards lawand order maintenance is taken care of by respective stategovernments.Besides the government expenditure, political parties andcandidates also spent large amounts of money.Significantly, the government had this time raised the capof spending by a candidate from Rs 40 lakh to 70 lakh, whichwas expected to push up the total expenditure on the polls.

The projected expenditure to elect the 16th Lok Sabha isset to rival the USD seven billion (approximately Rs. 42,000crore) spent by candidates and parties in the 2012 USpresidential elections.A study carried out by Centre for Media Studies before thepolls said “unaccounted for” money pumped in by “crorepati"candidates, corporates and contractors has pushed up theexpenditure to elect 543 MPs.

PTI