AGARTALA / NEW DELHI, June 4 (TIWN): A report published today in India has claimed that nearly Rs. 27000 crores have been spent in 2019 Lok Sabha Election. The report first came in National Herald, Deccan Herald like leading media which have also claimed merely 45% of total election expenditure has been spent by the BJP alone. This is however country’s “most expensive election ever, anywhere” with around 60000 crores whereas BJP itself has used 45% of the total expenditure. This time's expenditure is a growth of 6-7 times from the 1998 Lok Sabha polls when around Rs 9,000 crore was spent, the study 'Poll Expenditure: The 2019 Elections' by a private think tank the Centre for Media Studies (CMS) claimed. Spending by political parties and candidates to woo 900 million voters in the just concluded polls cost them nearly Rs 60,000 crore ($8.7 billion), more than double of 2014 polls, according to the New Delhi-based Centre for Media Studies. The report, based on field studies, analysis and estimation, found that they spent Rs 700 per voter or nearly Rs 100 crore in each parliamentary constituency.

With some constituencies comprising as many as three million voters, equivalent to the population of Jamaica, candidates had to spend more for publicity and logistics and in some cases distributed cash for votes, according to the report. India’s poll panel prescribes a seven million-rupee ceiling on spending by a candidate, said Business Standard.

About $6.5 billion was spent ‘during the US presidential and congressional races in 2016, according to OpenSecrets.org, which tracks money in American politics.

At this rate, expenditure in the next 2024 general election could cross Rs 1 trillion , said N. Bhaskara Rao, chairman of CMS.

“Mother of all corruption lies in the spiraling election expenditure,’’ said Rao. “If we are not able to address this, we can’t check corruption in India.’’

“The BJP spent about 20% in 1998 against about 45% in 2019 out of the total poll expenditure estimate, taking it from 9,000 crore in 1998 to ₹55,000 crore. In 2009, the Congress’s share was 40% of total expenditure, against 15 to 20% in 2019,” the report stated.