| If the current trends are to be believed, | | | | machines in close to 688,000 polling stations in |
| forthcoming general elections may prove to be | | | | India has resulted in saving over 8,800 metric |
| the mother of all elections and the costliest in the | | | | tons of security paper for printing of the ballot |
| history involving over Rs 15,000 Crore of public | | | | papers, as well as substantive savings in terms of |
| money and 714 million people i.e. the world's | | | | storing, securing and transporting the ballot boxes |
| largest electorate (larger than the electorate in | | | | yet the overall election expenses continue to rise. |
| North America, Western Europe, and Japan | | | | Apart from the government, almost all political |
| combined). | | | | parties and their candidates spend crores in for |
| This is a significant jump over the Rs. 4,500 crore | | | | managing the elections. But what makes it really |
| spent for conducting the last general elections in | | | | next to impossible to assess the actual cost of |
| 2004. | | | | elections in India is the fact that there is the |
| According to a study conducted by the Center | | | | absence of an enforcement machinery to monitor |
| for Media Studies (CMS) all this would boil down to | | | | the expenses incurred by the political parties and |
| Rs 75-125 per registered voter considering that a | | | | to ensure that they transparently maintain proper |
| large number of voters do not even turn up to | | | | accounts and have them audited. As a result large |
| vote. | | | | amount of unaccounted money flows in to fund |
| Significantly according to the CMS study, the | | | | election expenses. According to one estimate just |
| government itself incurs about 20 per cent of the | | | | the two main parties -- Congress and BJP alone |
| total expenses amounting to Rs 1,300 crore by | | | | spend close to Rs 1000 crore. This is besides the |
| Election Commission and about Rs 700 crore by | | | | amount spent by individual candidates and bribes |
| other central and state government agencies. | | | | paid by political parties to buy their opponents or |
| Though the introduction of electronic voting | | | | purchase votes. |