lok sabha polls: Expenditure of holding synchronised polls to LS, assemblies, local bodies nearly Rs 10 lakh cr: Study

Amid a debate over simultaneous polls, a new study on Tuesday pegged the total expenditure on all elections from Lok Sabha to local bodies at Rs 10 lakh crore which could be brought down by Rs 3-5 lakh crore if the voting period is reduced to just a week and parties strictly follow the model code. The study said the 2024 Lok Sabha polls will involve an expenditure of around Rs 1.20 lakh crore of which the Election Commission is estimated to spend “hardly 20 per cent” and this does not include expenditure on new electronic voting machines.

According to N Bhaskara Rao, a research-based analyst of public policies, Rs 10 lakh crore is the estimate for holding Lok Sabha, assembly and local body polls (panchayats, zila parishad, municipalities) together.

But the total amount in elections is not necessarily spent by the central and the state governments. Parties too incur expenditure on candidates and campaigning. Campaigning often begins even before the election schedule is announced.

But parties are only mandated to share election expenditure with the EC from the date polls are announced till the election process is completed.

While there is ceiling on how much candidates can spend on campaigning, there is no such bar on parties.

For the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, parties had collected Rs 6,400 crore, they had spent Rs 2,600 crore. According to Rao, while Rs 1.20 lakh crore is estimated to be spent on Lok Sabha polls in 2024, Rs 3 lakh crore could be spent if all assembly polls are held together. There are a total of nearly 4,500 assembly seats in the country. He has pegged the cost of holding all municipal elections together at Rs one lakh crore. There are nearly 500 municipal seats across the country.

Similarly for zila parishads (650 seats), mandals (7000 seats) and village (gram) panchayats (2,50,000 seats), the cost of holding polls has been pegged at Rs 4.30 lakh crore).

Rao said holding simultaneous polls itself was not enough to reduce poll expenditure significantly substantially.

He said the present practice followed by parties on campaigning, effectiveness of the poll panel and strict adherence by parties to the model code of conduct will play an important role in reducing expenditure.

According to Rao, a “one-week poll” is likely to bring down poll expenditure. He said a rationale poll schedule which is not spread across phases will help reduce poll expenditure.

By having simultaneous polls for different levels what is likely to be reduced visibly is expenditure on travel, printing, media campaign, booth-level logistics. Without curbing “note for vote” or voter inducement, poll expenditure will not reduce significantly, he said.

Rao, who headed Centre for Media Studies (CMS), has authored several books on elections and poll expenditure.