Indian elections & money: an affair of expenses!

2019 has started and with it, has started the buzz around the 17th general (Lok Sabha) elections that are to be held in March this year. And even though there is a set cap on how much can money can be spent on a candidate during elections (₹ 50 lakh to ₹ 70 lakh for Lok Sabha elections and ₹ 20 to ₹ 28 lakh for Assembly elections), it’s no surprise that parties contesting overspend by a huge margin. The amount of money being spent on elections is also increasing.

Here is a table that will give you an insight into the increasing amount of money that is being spent on elections in the past few decades -

Year of Lok Sabha election	Expenditure in Rupees (Crores)
1884-85	81.51
1989	154.22
1991-92	359.1
1996	597.34
1998	666.22
1999	947.68
2004	1,113.88

In 2014, a decade later, BJP and Congress alone spent over ₹ 714 crore and ₹ 516 crore respectively on their election campaigns (Source: Times of India). This drastic increase in monetary expenditures clearly reflects that the dynamics of Indian elections have changed. In situations like these, it requires no rocket science to guess that a hefty amount of money will be spent in 2019 elections as well. 

Let’s try to explore why the elections in India are becoming such an expensive affair-

• An obvious point that will come into everybody’s mind is INFLATION. The prices a decade ago were much more lesser than what they are today. This, will obviously impact the election budget.

• Change in voter expectations: the youth today is more aware and has a greater eye for detail. Today’s youth is digitized, mediated and knows what exactly it wants.

• Another important factor is that that the attitude of voters has changed. Instead of following their voting habits or ideologies, voters have now started to vote according the performance of the parties in power. The demand for performance and progress is driving elections these days.

• With the advent of internet, a lot of new platforms have been created for political parties. Understanding the potential, reach and influencing power of these platforms, a huge amount of money is also spent on creating a propaganda here.

• A large amount of money spent on elections is black in nature. This makes it difficult for the authorities to take action against candidates and parties that spend more than the set cap amount because on paper, the amount declared is much lesser.

There are many such reasons why Indian elections are turning into an extremely expensive affair. The government too, is introducing different ways like the electoral bond scheme (to keep track of the amount of donations received by political parties) to make the process of elections more transparent.

What do you think about the elections in India becoming more and more expensive? Comment below and let us know.