They will involve an estimated expenditure Rs. 1,000 crore by parties and candidates: study
The ongoing by-elections to 18 Assembly constituencies and the Nellore Lok Sabha seat will end up as the costliest in the State's history, involving an estimated expenditure Rs 1,000 crore by parties and candidates.
A study by some observers, including Election Watch, a citizens' group fighting for liberating elections from money power, and corroborated by feedback received by election authorities, indicated that each of the three major parties, the Congress, YSR Congress, and TDP, is spending Rs 1,000 on each voter, on an average.
Money dominates
The study categorised 16 lakh of the 46.1 lakh voters in the constituencies going to the polls, as people normally disinclined to accept bribes for votes. The money offered by these parties, therefore, is received by the remaining 30 lakh voters.
Although there is no empirical evidence, if each party pays Rs. 1,000 for a single vote, their total expenditure works out to a whopping sum Rs 900 crore. Another Rs 100 crore is being spent by the parties/candidates on hiring party workers with some of them being offered a Rs 30,000 package per head for one month.
Identifying the reasons for the domination of the polls by money power, V. Lakshmana Reddy, Convenor of Election Watch, says the contestants prefer to bribe voters as there are severe EC curbs on expenditure that is visible. An election official said that the voters were confused as there was no distinction in ideology between the mainstream parties and absence of candidates of his or her preference. Under the circumstances, he or she is inclined to individually benefit by accepting bribe as the best way out.
Huge cash seizures
So far, squads of the Election Commission have seized Rs 35 crore in cash, a clear indication of the manifold increase in use of money for polls. Compare this with the amount of Rs. 38 crore seized in all the 294 Assembly constituencies in the 2009 general elections.
Bribing of voters with cash is not new but election officials are baffled by the large-scale distribution of even gold/silver ornaments to women voters. Gold seized so far weighed 32 kg and silver 13 kg, all worth about Rs 12 crore.
Keywords: Election Commission, Andhra politics
time has come to ban whole cash transaction and allow only atm,credit govt funded electronic card with cell phone transfer money,india is totally spoiled by law less ness,unaffective judicial system and whole political system is totally vitiated, whole media,police,system is totally corrupted,people could not distinguish between any difference between ruling and opposition party,it is better adopt totally new modern system of profession monitoring of finance transaction and chanelise whole money towards fully ulitisation of currency circulation
Dont get the motive behind these bypolls. Politicians who are care of palatial residences dont understand the pain taken by a comman man to run his financially complicated life. There is no point in re electing the same crowd again and again.Instead this huge expenditure spent now can be diverted towards the betterment of millions of downtrodden lives.What has the government done in the last 5 years? There are several concerns which require immediate attention. Look at certain roads in Hyderabad with full of pits, ups and downs. Why does not the government take any intiatives to level them? If this is the plight in the capital city, I wonder how pitiable the rural and countryside places would be. Better the government spend in throwing light on severe issues instead of dumping money into unuseful activities like bypolls.
When so much of research is done on how much is spent and on whom then why are the EC not able to curb them. EC should be in the picture all the time and not just during the elections. During off time they have to try different means to make the elections transparent and educating everyone the value of the vote.
In spite of all kinds efforts and measures taken either sides, to stop
the flow of money in the electioneering process, a huge distribution
seems to be taken place and it is going on increasing day by day. The
need of the hour is to eliminate this kind of flow of money and power,
to strengthen the democratic institutions further and a major role will
come forward from the side of political parties.
What about the public expenditure? I think, it's high time that people realise they are the sufferer at the end of all these political games. Firstly, all the money in question, will be squized from them. Secondly, when a person resigns from assembly, the people should NOT vote for the candidate or party! What morale and ethical right he has to play with the faith and support of the people. And, it's happening again, and again. I wish, people get this message to stop such political drama at the cost of public expenditure!!!
If reports are in public that money is used in election campaigns on a large scale then why any action is missing on parties and allied people. It is a big question for silent Media and police system.
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