Based on previous years' trends, the 2024 election is expected to cost approximately Rs 1,20,000 crore.

The US election of 2020 involved a huge cost of about 1 lakh crores.  Therefore 2024 elections would become the costliest election in the world.

Expenditure during 2019 Lok Sabha Elections which were nearly ₹60,000 crore, whereas in 2014, it was ₹30,000 crore. This shows that the expenses involved in conducting a Lok Sabha election have risen steadily over the years.

But why has expenditure increased so much this time?

The total expenditure can be divided into two parts. One by the Election commission of India and the other by the political parties. Most of the expenditure is made by political parties and only a little by the Election commission.

This surge in costs can be attributed to various factors, including the increase in the number of eligible voters which requires large management of polling booths, deployment of more personnels and wider campaign strategies by the political parties, particularly the rising expenditure on the social media.

The expenses are of election commission are diverse. It has to spend for deploying officials and armed personnel to setting up polling booths, procuring electronic voting machines (EVMs), and acquiring other necessary equipment like edible ink, as well as running awareness programmes.

In the last few years, the expenditure on procuring and maintaining EVMs has increased from 25 crore to 1892 crores in the latest budget.

Administrative costs also form a substantial part of the expenditure. The EC has to remunerate its officials and volunteers for their poll-related work.  It is found that EC pays a presiding officer is paid Rs 350 per day while polling officers receive Rs 250 per day during the elections.

Officials are also paid to attend training sessions and travel. The EC also videographs polling and campaigns of political parties which significantly increases the expenses.

This election is also costly due to its lengthy duration. The 2024 Lok Sabha elections will be conducted over a span of seven phases, extending for 44 days.

Now comes the expenditure by Candidates and Political parties.

The ECI has fixed the expenditure amount of ₹95 lakh per candidate. However, there is no limit on the expenditure of the parties.

Political parties spend the most money on publicity, campaigns for candidates, and travel. A large part of this expenditure is unaccounted as some parties distribute food, alcohol and even cash to the voters. And similarly a huge amount is spent when the vidhan sabha elections take place.

If this amount is saved, a lot of money can be used towards economic development and poverty alleviation in India. Therefore, India requires an election reform for which one nation, one election should be debated upon.

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