How Much Does It Cost For Politicians To Contest Elections: State wise Expenditure Breakup

The 2019 are going to have 1866 political parties fighting for the votes of over 900 million people. Have you ever felt that you, a common man, could contest in the elections? Do you think you will be able to afford to contest the elections?

In the 2014 elections, it was estimated that over Rs 35,000 cr was spent, while official records stated that about 7,000 to 8,000 cr was spent. How much is a candidate allowed to spend?

Looking at the difference between money spent and put on record, you know that at least Rs 28,000 cr went unaccounted for. Each candidate was given a limit of Rs 70,00,000 for the 533 big constituencies and Rs 54,00,000 for the 10 small constituencies. Each candidate on an average spent Rs 25,00,000 was spent on individual bases, which is much lower than the cap set by the Election Commission of India (ECI).

But is this all the money that the candidate spent?

· Well, the unaccounted money sets its mark way past 70,00,000.

Where is this unaccounted money spent?

· All of this money goes into many different ways votes can be bought.

And lastly, where is all the money coming from?

· Parties are made to raise funds to meet the extra expenses that they incur.

In the 2014 elections, BJP was said to have raised Rs 41,97,251, Congress about 44,23,890, TRS had raised 43,62,619 and TDP had raised 28,61,103.

BJP collected 56% from the party itself and 44% in donations and other individuals, firms or organizations, or raised by the candidate himself. Congress collected 23% of the money from the party and 48% from other sources and 29% was out of pocket expenditure.

Now that brings us to the question if this unaccounted cash is enough to woo voters. Well, the money is spent mostly on Transport, alcohol, drugs, and wages for workers. In 2014, the ECI reported that more than Rs 300 cr of unaccounted cash, 1700 kg of drugs, huge amounts of alcohol and arms being seized during the time of the election.

The Candidates being rich, have several business contacts or donations from the urban middle class. All in all, sources say that the AAP spends an approximate of Rs 2.5 cr per seat, and parties like BJP and Congress spend close to Rs 10 cr.

That brings us to the last, final and most anticipated question of them all--can a common man afford to contest for the election, the answer is that if the common man can afford to contest for the elections, unless this common man has a heart of gold in its literal sense, which is most unlikely, the answer is no.

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