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| Heavy poll expenses mean huge money circulation | | | Notwithstanding the fact that the Election
Commission of India has fixed Rs.70 lakhs as poll expenses for each of 543 Lok Sabha constituencies that go to the polls between April and May, leading trade analysts are of the opinion that contesting candidates may be spending anything between Rs. five crores and Rs. seven crores in each segment. It would mean circulation of a huge amount of money which may benefit voters in areas where the contesting candidates may resort to secret purchase of votes.With large funds being in circulation people engaged in various trade too may be benefitted.But experts believe that candidates contesting in the constituencies located in posh urban belts in the country, which include state capitals,developed district headquarters and metropolis, may be spending anything upto Rs. seven crores for bagging a seat in the Lok Sabha which may allow him or her a chance to recover the money he spent on electioneering and on making other arrangements for wooing voters,earn money, through fair or foul means, which could sustain him,his family members for five years and enable him to save sufficient money for contesting next election.
Reports indicate that contestants would be forced to spend huge sums of money in certain key constituencies in the country where the tie is going to be quite tough.According to these reports,in constituencies where the caste and creed factors may play a decisive role in tilting the scales in favour of one or the other candidate those contesting the poll may not have to spend lavishly for wooing voters because in various states caste factor is a vital factor and more important that the power of money. In addition to this,contesting candidates may have to spend heavy sums of money in constituencies that have voters belonging to the upper middle class or are from the affluent families.In such areas voters choice may be influenced by heavy stacks of Indian currency notes.As far as constituencies that have a majority of voters belonging to poor families and to those groups who live below the poverty line contesting candidates may not have to invest heavily in electioneering.
When one takes into account six Lok Sabha constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir contesting candidates may not be forced to invest heavily on electioneering and on moves aimed at wooing voters .Yes, candidates who are in the field in Srinagar and Jammu constituencies may have to spend anything between Rs.two to Rs. three cores but in the remaining four constituencies,especially Ladakh constituency,the candidates who are on the field may not exceed the poll expenditure prescribed by the Election Commission. Not that majority of voters in Srinagar and Jammu constituencies are very rich thereby requiring no freebies or financial help from the candidates but these voters are politically awakened lot which may force the candidates in the poll fray to spend heavy sums of money on road shows, on organizing large scale pre-poll rallies and on touring all the sub-segments of both these constituencies. In areas outside the state of Jammu and Kashmir candidates need money for hiring musclemen for booth capturing, they need guns to meet any challenge from their rivals, they need money for arranging free langars for the voters and for rigging. And the poll history in Jammu and Kashmir indicates that there have been no cases of booth capturing, no cases of preventing the weaker section among the voters from casting their votes, no cases of pull of caste or creed, no cases of armed attacks on voters belonging to the rival candidates or on the polling booths. All these activities and exercises require huge sums of money. Hence in the absence of such scenes and situation the poll expenditure in the six Lok Sabha constituencies, on an average, in Jammu and Kashmir may be lower than the sum being spent in urban constituencies in rest of the country. |
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