The Lok Sabha elections in India will be held in April 2009. It will be interesting to see which political party wins the elections. Indian election results have always unfolded amidst high drama and anticipation, and this time around, it promises to get better. It has already got its hype what with Varun Gandhi’s “derogatory” speech, The Indian Premier League (IPL) being stashed away from India to South Africa owing to the elections, high-profile election rallies etc. For once, I wish elections would have been a low profile affair.
The other day I was going through the latest edition of The Outlook and I came across some facts and figures for these elections which dumbstruck me. 10,000 Crore Rupees, is the amount that is going to be spent for electing the 15th Lok Sabha and a new Prime Minister. 543 constituencies, 7 national parties, more than 200 regional parties and outfits are going to be a part of this election. Not only this, 71.4 Crore voters are going to cast their votes, 40 Lakh civil officials and 20 Lakh security personnel are going to be a part of this as well.
Out of the 10,000 Crore Rs, national parties are going to spend an estimated 4,350 Crore Rs, regional parties – 1,000 Crore Rs, BJP and Congress – 1,000 Crore Rs, other parties – 650 Crore Rs, Election Commission – 1,000 Crore Rs, Administration cost – 700 Crore Rs, “Cash for buying votes” – 2500 Crore Rs etc. The corporate world is supposed to be pitching in almost 50% of the entire amount. So where does all the rest of the money come from? You are right. From the pocket of the ‘Tax-Payer’ or simply put ‘The Common Man’. All this for electing a person to govern the largest democracy in the world! It’s very interesting to note here that the expenditure during the 2004 general elections was a handsome 4,500 Crore Rs.
If we compare the elections in India with those that took place in the United States of America which was ‘the most’ promoted and popular general election of all time, one would be surprised to know that the expenditure on this was 8,000 Crore Rupees. I don’t know whether it is a matter of pride or shame that we are going to spend a good 2,000 Crore Rupees more than the USA.
For me, it is really shameful that we will be spending so much money in electing politicians who might or might not be better than the current ones. Even if we do elect a very good candidate for the post of the Prime Minister (which, is a much foregone cause), I don’t think we can expect much work to be done by him/her, as they are really old. According to me, to govern and run a country like India, we need a person who is not older than 50 years of age. This, I believe will bring in a combination of experience, knowledge and a youthful energy in our system.
It’s interesting to note here that even the most developed nation in the world was overrun in the election expenses by our nation which is tagged as a developing country or more frequently called a Third World country
What’s more interesting is the fact that these ‘politicians’ who should be working for our welfare have been focusing only on the elections since the beginning of this year. Where have all the promises of making India a safer and better country gone? These people seem to have comfortably forgotten the recent terror attacks that took place across various cities of India. These politicians are seemingly very busy in their election rallies and we don’t seem to have the time to ask them ‘why aren’t they working?’ One can find at least one election rally taking place in each and every corner of India! For me, this seems like a very huge circus and I feel like laughing. Sadly, I can’t as I can see that my country is going from bad to worse. In fact, nowadays, I don’t feel any pride in saying that I am an “Indian”.
This post might seem like ‘a bashing of Indian politics’, however, I am sure that a certain level headed section of people might agree with me that the only people to lose out here are us and not these politicians.
