New Delhi: The upcoming elections could give a Rs 60,000-crore boost to economy, according to industry chamber Assocham. “With electioneering picking up fast, the estimated '20,000 crore to be spent on the general elections in all, will create a huge multiplier GDP effect of at least Rs 60,000 crore giving a shot in the arm of the Indian economy,” said an Assocham study.
It further said: “While the official limit for each of parliamentary candidate in 543 constituencies has been fixed at '70 lakh, the previous experience of different agencies at the ground level shows that this time around, each of the contestants, in majority of the cases, may end up spending up to '7 crore, despite the Election Commission’s attempts to curb excessive spending.”
Assocham noted that it is extremely difficult for the official machinery to minutely monitor the expenditure details of the candidates. “The past experience shows that the number of crorepatis fighting the elections far exceeded the commoner. A candidate with common background could find it difficult to raise '70 lakh, unless he or she is from a cash rich big party,” it said.
Assocham said that with multi-cornered contests in most of the constituencies between NDA, UPA, regional parties, it is assumed that each of the parliamentary seats will have at least three to four serious candidates. “Thus, each of the constituency may witness '20-25 crore being spent on tough electioneering,” said the study. It said that this would add up '12,000-'15,000 crore for electioneering.
With addition of the official expenditure of at least '1,000 crore and the other undefined extra spend on logistics by the Central and State government, the total election expenditure could come near '20,000 crore mark, it noted. The assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha will give another booster of '1,500 crore, the study said.
