New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) is all set to announce the schedule of the high-stakes Lok Sabha Elections 2024 on Saturday.
India, deemed by our Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the 'Mother of Democracy', is not just the biggest democracy but also falls in the category of the nation that spent the most on elections.
Several studies and reports have claimed that India's elections are one of the most expensive in the world. While electioneering spending is an aspect dealt with by the political parties and their respective candidates, the other aspect is the budget allocation by the Union Government to the Election Commission.
The allocation for poll expenses has risen from Rs 2,183.78 crore in 2023 to Rs 2,442.85 crore in the interim budget 2024 presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman last month.
Out of this, Rs 1000 crore will go towards Lok Sabha elections, up from Rs 180 crore allocated last year. Similarly, only Rs 18 crore was allocated last year for voter identity cards, which this year has been raised to Rs 404.81 crore. The revised budget for voter ID cards in 2023–24 was Rs 79.66 crore.
For EVMs, the budgetary allocation stands at Rs 34.84 crore. A total of Rs 1,003.20 crore has been allocated under the head's other election expenses. With regards to the total allocation towards holding elections for the coming fiscal, it stood at Rs 2,408.01 crore.
The Election Commission has also been granted Rs 321.89 crore for conducting elections this fiscal, of which Rs 306.06 crore is for the expenditure to be incurred in conducting elections.
The amount kept aside for public works is Rs 2.01 crore. The allocation made for administrative services is Rs 13.82 crore. It is important to note here that the Financial Minister, during the winter session of Parliament last year, tabled an additional allocation of Rs 3,147.92 crore for election-related expenditure and Rs 73.67 crore for the Election Commission's administration.
While for the previous year, the election commission was granted Rs 466.4 crore. Also, in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, a whopping amount of Rs 3,870 crore was spent.
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