New Delhi:
The UP polls saw a total of over Rs 5,500 crore spent on the campaign by various parties, including about Rs 1,000 crore towards ‘note for vote’, with nearly one-third voters admitting to cash or liquor offer, a survey claimed on Friday.
According to the CMS pre-post poll study, upwards of Rs 5,500 crore were spent by major political parties in the just-concluded assembly election in Uttar Pradesh alone.
The Election Commission of India allows Rs 25 lakh per candidate for campaign expenditure, but it is best known secret that most candidates spend much more than what is officially allowed and what candidates declare after the poll.
Campaign activities include a range of conventional and non-conventional activities. Print and electronic material, including wide screen projections, video vans and the like put together itself in this election was put at Rs 600-900 crore.
“Every vote cast in UP involved a cost of about Rs 750, which is highest in the country,” the survey noted.
In this assembly elections, nearly Rs 200 crore in UP and over Rs 100 crore in Punjab were confiscated, the report said, adding that what gets to electoral campaign pipeline is 4-5 times more than what gets confiscated by authorities.
