Political parties and the Election Commission of India (ECI) are gearing up for the general elections after the dates have been announced for the Lok Sabha Elections 2024. An estimate predicts that ₹1,20,000 crore will be spent on the elections, making India’s elections the world’s most expensive election.

The Center for Media Studies and the Association for Democratic Reform (ADR) have released the estimated expenditure.

The estimate of ₹1,20,000 crore is almost double the amount spent on the last Lok Sabha Election. Reportedly, ₹60,000 crore was spent after the Lok Sabha Elections 2019. While in 2014, it was ₹30,000 crore. This shows that every five years, the expenditure amounts double up.

According to ECI, the expenditure for the first-ever LS poll in the country was only ₹10.45 crore (1951-52).

In 2004, this figure crossed ₹1,000 crore for the first time, clocking at ₹1,016 crore. In 2009, it reached ₹1,115 crore.

The cost of the Lok Sabha Election is borne by the Central government while the cost of Assembly elections is borne by the state government.

The Election Commission’s share of expenditure will be only 20%, the remaining 80% is estimated to be spent by political parties.

It is noteworthy that about ₹46,000 crore is spent on feeding the 80 crore poor of the country in three months. Therefore, with the amount estimated to be spent in the Lok Sabha Elections (₹1.20 lakh crore), free food can be provided for the poor for eight months.

Lok Sabha Election expenses from parties

ADR also revealed the details of the expenses of political parties and the funds received. During the Lok Sabha elections in 2014, all political parties collectively received funds of ₹6,405 crore while they spent ₹2,591 crore.

According to the report, seven national parties collected ₹5,544 crore in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, of which only the BJP received ₹4,057 crore and Congress received ₹1,167 crore.

On the other hand, the BJP spent ₹1,142 crore in 2019, while the amount of expenditure for the Congress was ₹626 crore.

Expenses breakdown

The purchase of EVM machines for voting, deployment of security forces, purchase of other materials for election etc. makes up for the expenditure by the ECI.

Political parties mostly spend on election campaigns. 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, candidates, and travel.

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