NEW DELHI: Like all previous elections, it's currency that's fuelling the campaign machine this year too. Currency with the public on the eve of 2019 elections has posted one of the highest year-on-year growth compared with pre-election growth rates in past seven elections.
Cash, GDP and pollsEconomists say the gap between the growth rates of
nominal GDP
and
currency in circulation
is a good indicator of cash being deployed for
election campaign
. In 2018-19, while currency growth was 17.3%, the projected nominal GDP growth was 12.33%.
It's overflowingThe Election Commission has already seized over Rs 1,400 crore (between March 10 and April 1) worth of cash, liquor and drugs from various states with Gujarat being on top (with Rs 509 crore). Income Tax department's raids on politicians or people close to them in states like Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh has unearthed cash too.
There's politicsThe I-T raids come in handy for the party in power. For instance, some BJP leaders seem to have details of the raids even before the I-T department releases it. I-T officials claimed on Monday night to have unearthed a 'racket of collection of unaccounted cash of about Rs 281 crore' in raids on people linked to Madhya Pradesh CM
Kamal Nath (the raids continued on Tuesday). A BJP leader had mysteriously tweeted the figure (of Rs 281 crore) on Monday morning. PM
Narendra Modi on Tuesday, pointing to the MP raids, claimed that cash-for-vote was part of Congress' culture. In Hyderabad, Telangana police seized Rs 8 crore of BJP's cash and the party blamed the police of 'high-handedness' and said it was an 'example of undemocratic rule' prevailing in the state.
Don't raid democracy
Allegations of misuse of central agencies by the opposition parties prompted the EC to "strongly advise" the finance ministry that any action by its enforcement agencies during election time should be "neutral" and "non-discriminatory" and officials of the poll panel should be kept in the loop about such actions (they didn't know about the MP raids till hours after they began).
Bonds not good enough? The government had launched electoral bonds — a poll funding scheme criticised by both the Election Commission and the Opposition — saying they will clean up political funding (the Supreme Court will hear a case against the scheme today). However, they seem to have played a very small role in campaign finance. Though no official data by the issuer of these bonds — the
State Bank of India
— is put in
public domain
, experts estimate all political parties together may not have managed to raise even Rs 2,000 crore. Electoral expenditure for 2019 is estimated to be around Rs 30,000 crore.
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