Nirmala says no money to contest LS polls: Here's how much a candidate needs

Nirmala says no money to contest LS polls: Here’s how much a candidate needs

Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recently declined the BJP offer to contest Lok Sabha polls. However, she declined the offer saying she did not have that “kind of fund” needed to be in the poll fray.

BJP president JP Nadda had reportedly given her the option to contest either from Andhra Pradesh or Tamil Nadu. “After thinking for over a week, I went back to say, ‘Maybe not’. I do not have that kind of money to contest. I also have a problem whether it is Andhra Pradesh or Tamil Nadu. It’s also going to be a question of various other winnability criteria that they use… Are you from this community or are you from that religion? Are you from this? I said no, I do not think I am going to be able to do it,” she said at the TIMES NOW Summit 2024.

Sitharaman reportedly declared a net worth of around Rs 2.5 crore in her affidavit when she contested the Rajya Sabha polls in 2016. Her declaration raises questions about how much money a candidate needs to contest an election in India.

How much are candidates allowed to spend?

There is no cap on how much political parties can spend. The Election Commission has put a cap on spending for candidates at Rs 95 lakh for Lok Sabha constituencies and Rs 40 lakh for Assembly seats, respectively. In some smaller states and Union Territories, the cap is Rs 75 lakh and Rs 28 lakh for the Lok Sabha and Assemblies, respectively.

What are the EC guidelines?

The expenditure limit refers to the amount a candidate is allowed to spend on election campaigning, including public meetings, rallies, advertisements, posters and banners, and vehicles.

All candidates need to submit their expenditure statement to the poll panel within 90 days of completion of the Lok Sabha election.

The EC frequently revises the spending limit based on cost factors and the increasing number of voters.

Catch Live updates of 2024 Lok Sabha polls here.

The spending cap was last revised in 2022. The EC had then formed a committee and invited suggestions from political parties, chief electoral officers, and election observers.

Spending limit increased in 2019

According to reports, the official expenditure declared by BJP was Rs 1,264 crore while that by Congress was Rs 820 crore during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. A study, conducted by the private think tank Centre for Media Studies (CMS), pegged the money spent for the exercise at around Rs 55-60,000 crore. The study “Poll Expenditure: The 2019 Elections” termed the 2019 polls the “most expensive election ever, anywhere”.

According to CMS, the 2024 Lok Sabha elections can witness an expenditure of Rs 1 lakh crore. DK Suresh, the sitting MP and Congress candidate from Bengaluru Rural is one of the richest candidates in the fray with declared assets worth over Rs 593 crore as of March 29.

The Lok Sabha polls will begin on April 19 and the result will be declared on June 4.