How elections are increasingly turning into a costly affair, posing a threat to democracy

When a politician spends large sums of money and wins polls, he invariably finds ways to recoup ‘the investment’ and multi-fold profit on it. Further, such politicians don’t mind shifting their loyalties to other political parties if they stand to make monetary gains. That happened in the past and will happen in the future too

When I went to Amethi during the 2019 General Elections, I was curious to know the election expenditure there. I spoke to a political leader in Gauriganj, the headquarters of one of the five Assembly constituencies that make up the Amethi Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh. The politician, who hailed from a nearby village and was actively involved in poll management there, expressed anguish that elections had become costly affairs and candidates had to spend around Rs 1-2 crore in the Assembly polls!

For the uninitiated, Amethi parliamentary constituency has been the pocket-borough of the Indian National Congress’ first family. Indira Gandhi’s youngest son Sanjay Gandhi was the first one from the Nehru-Gandhi family to represent that seat in 1980, followed by his elder brother Rajiv Gandhi. Sonia Gandhi, the longest-serving Congress president, also won the MP seat in 1999 before handing over the baton to her son Rahul Gandhi, who represented the constituency thrice from 2004.

I went there to see firsthand why Amethi people had been with the Gandhi family for so long, but to my shock, I found Rahul Gandhi on a sticky wicket. My assessment came true as BJP’s Smriti Irani defeated the Nehru-Gandhi scion. Hell-bent on defeating Rahul Gandhi in his backyard, the saffron party fielded her there in 2014, but she lost. However, she focused on the constituency and took up developmental works despite losing. That attitude tilted scales in her favour, the next time around. But that’s a different, but interesting story, though.

Nearly six months before my 2019 visit to Amethi, Assembly elections were held in Telangana. During those polls, I visited Kodangal Assembly constituency where Anumula Revanth Reddy, the current chief of Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee, was in the fray. There were widespread allegations that money flowed like water across the constituency as concerted efforts were made to defeat him.

The Gauriganj politician I was referring to in the beginning, would simply have slipped into coma had I told him about the kind of money that went into Kodangal and other Assembly constituencies during the 2018 Telangana Assembly polls.

But as Telangana is heading for another round of polls scheduled for this November 30 to elect a new government, the question that comes to everyone’s mind now is whether the role of money in politics has fallen or gone up.

Recently, I travelled to one of the villages in the erstwhile Karimnagar district. The village wore a deserted look. There is a simple reason for it.

A major political party was holding a public meeting at the headquarters of the Assembly seat under which it falls. And the party mobilised most of the people from the village. Interestingly, the scenario is more or less the same in most of the villages in that constituency. This political party deployed tens of buses, auto rickshaws and other vehicles to ferry people to the public meeting. That means providing free transport. It was said that each one of those who attended that meeting was paid Rs 300 and given food. That means this political party spent at least Rs 500 on each person. It would have shelled out nearly Rs one crore if it had mobilised 20,000 people, which is a decent crowd for a medium-sized public meeting. Mind you, that’s the cost for one meeting!

People say there are instances of parties paying Rs 500 per person in addition to other perks, for attending public meetings. In such cases, the ‘investment’, nee expenditure, will be significantly higher.

“We have not seen this kind of money and mobilisation efforts in the previous elections. This will turn out to be the costliest election for sure,” a villager said.

Seemingly, organising a public meeting is the most expensive mode of electioneering in Telangana these days. That may be the reason why some political parties are opting for road shows and street corner meetings, which are comparatively cheaper, so to say.

Interestingly, poll meetings turned into a regular flow of income for several people this time as there is not much agriculture activity during this period. “People are attending meetings of all parties now. Moreover, they have become very clever and are not disclosing which way their votes will go. They fear repercussions and monetary loss if they let out any clue about their voting preferences at this juncture. So, they are tightlipped,” he explained.

In many places, this self-gag seems to be making it difficult for leaders to predict which way the poll wind is blowing. Did poll surveys also face the same challenge? Well…

Apart from the expenditure on public meetings, candidates and parties spend on regular campaigns, leaders, etc. The financial burden of ‘poll management’ in the few days before the D-Day is huge and it is going up with every election.

But the ever-rising cost of elections should worry the true proponents of democracy. This trend will pose a big threat to Indian democracy.

When a politician spends such large sums and wins polls, he invariably finds ways to recoup ‘the investment’ and multi-fold profit on it. Further, such politicians don’t mind shifting their loyalties to other political parties if they stand to make monetary gains. That happened in the past and will happen in the future too.

But the main problem is that the maturity levels of voters are still low in India. ‘What difference does it make to us irrespective of who wins. We have to work day in and day out for our survival and sustenance’ is the common refrain from people when asked about the elections.

Sadly, a majority of the gullible voters still don’t realise that they pay through their nose in the form of taxes on products and services for the follies, fancies and corrupt practices of those in power. Unnecessary freebies also fall into this category. ‘Money menace’ in elections will go away only when voters become more responsible and mature. Let’s hope that happens in the near future.

Meanwhile, when it comes to Telangana polls this time, the State is poised for an interesting political battle with the fight primarily being between Bharatiya Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and the Congress. But I noticed an intriguing trend. At many places, there is a seething anger against the ruling party candidates.

People say that the BRS candidate will lose elections in their constituency but its chief Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) will become Chief Minister for the third time! Can that happen? Anything is possible in politics but Congress will put BRS in trouble if it effectively channels the anti-incumbency against the BRS candidates to its advantage.