AGARTALA, June 7 (TIWN): Centre for Media Studies (CMS) has revealed a data which shows BJP shared the maximum part of the election expenditure out of a big figure of Rs. 60000 crores invested in this Lok Sabha Election 2019. Expressing concerns over the “Commercialization of Electoral Procedure”, Congress MP Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that whether for BJP Janata (Public) is important or not, it’s not clear but for BJP “Sabse Bada Rupaiya” (Money comes first) it’s for sure. Singhvi said while addressing in AICC HQ at Delhi, “The report by a renowned research centre CMS is truly a matter of concern. Rs. 60000 crores in a single election is not healthy for the country. More concerned issue is BJP itself has consumed 45%. Other parties hardly used 12%, 15% etc. The big amount is the 30% of India’s Education fund, it’s the 45% of the health budget, 10% of the Defence budget, 45% of MGNREGA scheme etc".

"Rs. 27,000 crores are not a small amount and the whole amount (Rs. 60000 crores) shows that per constituency 100 crores have been invested whereas BJP itself has used 45 crores”, he said.

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.