LS polls to cost more than US Presidential Elections

New Delhi, March 01: At a staggering Rs 10,000 crore, the Lok Sabha polls
this summer would cost more than what Barack Obama and others spent in the
US Presidential race.

According to information available with the US Federal Election Commission,
Obama and other candidates collectively spent close to USD 1.8 billion
(nearly Rs 8,000 crore) in the 2007-08 Presidential Elections.



This does not include the cost of holding Assembly Polls in states like
Andhra Pradesh and Orissa.

While the cost of US elections was spread over a year, India would see the
massive spending in a matter of months.

The estimated Rs 10,000 crore cost for the Lok Sabha elections includes
about one-fourth or Rs 2,500 crore being spent through "unofficial money" or
the cash to be paid to voters by the candidates, the CMS survey says.

The latest Presidential Elections in the US has been billed as the most
expensive ever, with cost doubling from the previous elections held in 2004.


Similarly, the cost of general elections in India, according to CMS, is also
set to more than double this year from about Rs 4,500 crore in last Lok
Sabha polls and would be the highest in the history of the country.

According to the CMS study, the government spending would be about 20
percent of the total expenses, including about Rs 1,300 crore by Election
Commission and about Rs 700 crore to be spent by various Central and state
government agencies for purposes like photo identity cards, EVMs and polling
booth.

Various political parties are expected to spend about Rs 1,650 crore from
their party funds, which would include about Rs 1,000 crore from the two
main parties -- Congress and BJP alone.

In addition to spending by parties, candidates of the national parties are
estimated to put in Rs 4,350 crore, while those from the regional parties
are expected to spend another Rs 1,000 crore.

As per the information available with the US Federal Election Commission,
Obama topped the list of all Presidential candidates by spending over USD
760 million -- more than double the amount of about USD 358 million spent by
his Republican rival John McCain.

Another Democrat Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton spent about USD 244
million.

According to another set of estimates for the US elections compiled by
Washington-based think-tank Centre for Responsive Politics, the overall cost
of the 2007-08 US federal elections was USD 5.3 billion, including about USD
2.4 billion on the presidential race.

by
Ghanshyam
on behalf of bureau report