This is how, Modi's currency ban will impact the election economy
Rs 300 crore
- Unaccounted cash which was seized by the Election Commission (EC) during 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
- Surprisingly, winning candidates that election reported that they spent only 58% of the expenditure limit on an average.
- On an average, Rs 55 crore was spent per seat during Lok Sabha 2014.
Rs 200 crore
- Amount seized during Tamil Nadu Assembly election in 2015, according to media reports.
- In total, Rs 5,000 crore was spent during this election.
- Same year, EC seized Rs 19 crore of unaccounted money during Bihar Assembly poll.
- Bribing voters, and spending it on campaigning plays an important role in circulating black money in the economy
Rs 30,000 crore plus
- Total amount of money spent by political parties during 2014 Lok Sabha elections, according to a study by Centre for Media Studies.
- Expenditure during 2014 Lok Sabha election was nearly triple the amount spent in 2009 Lok Sabha elections, making it the costliest election in Indian history and the second most in the world, right after US election 2012.
0.35%
- Estimated share of election expenditure as a percent of Gross Domestic Product.
- In 2014, EC raised the limit of parliamentary candidates to Rs 70 lakh but the fact is even EC knows a candidate sometime spends more than 50 times the amount.
Rs 20 crore
- The amount both Congress and BJP admitted to spending to win sets during a seminar in 2012, thousand times more than the limit.
- Unfortunately, political parties are still not under the ambit of the Right to Information Act. They are not even required to account for donations less than Rs 20,000, which means that 10 blocks of Rs 20,000 will make Rs 2 lakh, without any accountability.
Fueling of black money into politics not only helps candidates but also makes the candidate richer. For instance, according to a 2014 study by Association of Democratic Reforms, average assets of Congress candidates was Rs 41 crore, Rs 10 crore for BJP, and Rs 10 crore for Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
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