The elections for the upcoming 17th Lok Sabha is approaching. Around 90 crore voters will franchise in these elections. So it would be the largest election in terms of number of voters and cost per voter also.
In this article we have made a list of elections expenditure for all the general elections held in the country.
There is a proverb for Indian election that the elections of India are based on the 3Ms i.e. Money, Muscles and Mind.
It is worth to mention that total government expenditure for the first three general elections was around Rs. 10 cr each.
It is expected that the upcoming Lok Sabha elections will cost around 6500 crore to the exchequer. This expenditure was around 3870 cr in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
You would be surprised to know that the election expenditure has gone up 20 times from the first General Elections to the Fifteenth General Elections.
What is Election Model Code of Conduct?
In the first elections, the Government spent Rs. 0.60 on an elector whereas it touched 46 rupees per voter in 2014 and in the upcoming 17th Lok Sabha election it will reach around 72 rupees per voter.
The election of 1957 was the cheapest in terms of per voter expenditure. The Election Commission spent just 5.9 cr rupee which was around 30 paisa per voter.
The detail of per voter since the 1952 is as follows;
| Year | Expenditure (In Cr Rs) | No of Electors | Expenditure per elector (In Rs) |
| 1952 | 10.45 | 17,32,12,343 | 0.6 |
| 1957 | 5.9 | 19,36,52,179 | 0.3 |
| 1962 | 7.32 | 21,63,61,569 | 0.3 |
| 1967 | 10.8 | 25,02,07,401 | 0.4 |
| 1971 | 11.61 | 27,41,89,132 | 0.4 |
| 1977 | 23.04 | 32,11,74,327 | 0.7 |
| 1980 | 54.77 | 35,62,05,329 | 1.5 |
| 1984-85 | 81.51 | 40,03,75,333 | 2 |
| 1989 | 154.22 | 49,89,06,129 | 3.1 |
| 1991-92 | 359.1 | 5,11,533,598 | 7 |
| 1996 | 597.34 | 59,25,72,288 | 10 |
| 1998 | 666.22 | 60,58,80,192 | 11 |
| 1999 | 947.68 | 61,95,36,847 | 15 |
| 2004 | 1113.88 | 67,14,87,930 | 17 |
| 2009 | 846.67 | 71,69,85,101 | 12 |
| 2014 | 3870 | 83.4 cr | 46 |
| 2019 | 6500 | 90 cr | 72 |
Source: PIB & Election Commission of India
Details submitted to the Election Commission reveal that BJP had spent around Rs. 1,760 crore on fighting elections in the last five years to won 22 state elections.
As per the rules of the Election Commission; a candidate can spend upto Rs.70 lakh, depending on the state they are contesting the Lok Sabha election from.
Expenditure limit in the bigger states like Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Karnataka etc. is Rs. 70 lakh.
It can be conclude that the cost of elections is increasing in leap and bounds which is not a good practice for the health of the democracy because in this way the election will be won by the rich only. So the Election Commission need to look into this matter.
Expenditure limit in the Lok Sabha and Assembly Elections in 2019
Comments
All Comments (0)
Join the conversation