One of the most expensive electoral battles ever

AHMEDABAD: Gujarat assembly elections 2002 will go down in history not just for the political repercussions it caused but also for being one of the most expensive poll battles the state has ever witnessed.
Since no political party and their functionaries wanted to quantify the amount they spent — or others spent for them — estimates suggest it could be in excess of Rs 200 crore.
This is despite the fact that the Election Commission of India had fixed a ceiling of Rs 6 lakh on the expenditure incurred by each candidate. “The ceiling of Rs 6 lakh in assembly elections is on candidates. However, there is no such ceiling on the party’s spending,� said deputy election commissioner J A Thakker.
It’s the party which foots all the major bills. “The benefit of these expenses obviously goes to the candidate, but he can show less expenses,� says former Gujarat High Court chief justice B J Diwan who has been combating criminalisation of politics.
Sources say the Congress had the fattest of wallets in these elections, but the BJP was not far behind. A senior Congress leader said on terms of anonymity that his party spent over Rs 30 crore in official transactions.
Both the parties hired choppers and special aircraft for over 12 days for VVIPs and star campaigners, spending an estimated Rs 5 crore. A large public meeting for top party leaders cuts a hole into the party pocket by Rs 5 to 15 lakh, depending on the leader and the crowd. The main expenses were transportation, food and hired audiences.
Even the small voter slip which parties issue costs 50-60 paise. The total cost of printing the slips with the addresses of individual voters is estimated to be Rs 6 to 7 crore. Newspaper and TV advertisements turned out to be one of the biggest expenditures. Market estimates suggest that the saffron brigade spent nearly Rs 3 crore for swaying the public opinion in its favour, while the rival Congress’s expenses are pegged at Rs 4 crore.
Plus there is a lot of “unexplained� expenditure. “Deals for buying over rivals, Independents and smaller party candidates run into millions. Active youngsters in every society and colony were given Rs 3,000 to 5,000 to canvass, while around Rs 10,000 is spent on smaller offices,� said a senior party worker.
However, in most cases these expenses were taken care of directly by sponsors and the candidates, so there are no estimates. No wonder that treasurers of both the BJP and Congress parties expressed inability to part with the details. “We will tell the EC,� said BJP treasurer Surendra Patel.
In constituencies like Sabarmati and Maninagar, and in dozens of others where the contest was neck-and-neck, the expenses were much higher. In the BJP, nearly 60 candidates were ministers and were not funded much by the party. “The party did not spend more than Rs 2 to 5 lakh on a candidate,� claimed a senior BJP functionary.
Even the Nationalist Congress Party, which is a new entrant in Gujarat’s political scenario, is believed to have spent to the tune of Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh on every candidate. This is in addition to the publicity material and other expenses which are pegged at Rs 3 crore. But where does the money come from? Political analyst D N Pathak thinks: “Gujaratis live in 128 countries all over the world, and 40 per cent of the NRIs are Gujaratis. So if a political party is well-connected, securing funds from abroad is not a problem.�