General Elections 2024 : These days Lok Sabha elections are going on in the country. This question must have come to your mind that how much money is spent in general elections. There are many expenses, including the conduct of elections, expenses of parties, rallies of candidates and banners and posters. This election in India is the most expensive in the world. About Rs 700 is being spent on one vote. There are 96.90 lakh voters in India. Political parties spend heavily before elections to make these voters feel special. According to the Center for Media Studies, which monitors election expenses, the estimated expenditure in the 2019 general elections was Rs 55,000 to 60,000 crore.
This time the expenditure may be Rs 1 lakh crore
According to an estimate, this time the expenditure could be more than Rs 1 lakh crore. This expenditure is almost equal to the 2020 US election. 14.4 billion dollars i.e. 1.2 lakh crore rupees were spent in this. However, this spending will increase consumption, especially in rural areas, which may increase GDP by 0.2 to 0.3 percent. But the bigger issue is about the nature of election speding, much of which is unaccounted for. Although the Election Commission imposes adequate expenditure checks and balances on election expenditure, there is no limit on the expenditure of parties. The limit is only for the candidates.
Limit reached from 25000 to 95 lakhs
As far as the expenditure of the candidates is concerned, each candidate cannot spend more than Rs 75 to 95 lakh (depending on the constituency) for the Lok Sabha elections. At the same time, it cannot spend more than Rs 28 to 40 lakh for assembly elections. This limit of election expenditure was Rs 25,000 in the first elections held in 1951-52.
How much was spent in 2019
In the 2019 elections, only 20-25 percent or Rs 12-15 thousand crore of the total election expenditure of Rs 55-60 thousand crore directly reached the voters. A major portion of Rs 20 to 25 thousand crore was spent on campaign and publicity. The formal expenditure as disclosed by the Election Commission was Rs 10 to 12 thousand crores. Rs 5000 to 6000 crore was spent in logistics.
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