Election Funding : Negative Impact on Economy By Deepak Parvatiyar September 19, 2014 We know there is a cap on election-related spending. The rules stipulate that a candidate contesting the Parliament election can spend up to Rs 70 lakh in a big state and Rs 54 lakh in a smaller state (after an upward revision in poll expenses from the earlier Rs 40 lakh and Rs 22 lakh respectively). If we take the higher figure into account, even then the total campaign cost for a House with 550 elected members (two more are nominated) should not exceed Rs 385 crore. Yet, a study by the Centre for Media Studies showed that the total expenses in the 2014 elections were estimated to be a whopping Rs 26574 crore. Add the government expenses of Rs 3,426 crore (which more than doubled from Rs 1,483 in the last general elections of 2009) – and the total reaches an astronomical Rs 30,000 crore (or Rs 5 billion) – second only to the US Presidential election of 2012 that the US Federal Elec
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