UP election to inject Rs 1,700 crore in economy

Uttar Pradesh assembly poll is likely to inject almost Rs 1,700 crore of accounted expenditure in the state economy by the candidates through their canvassing and electioneering.

This figure has been deduced by taking 2012 UP poll as base, when about 6,800 candidates had contested the state election for the 403 legislative assembly seats.

For 2017, the Election Commission (EC) has fixed poll expenses ceiling of Rs 28 lakh on individual candidates compared to Rs 16 lakh for 2012 election, a hike of 75 percent.

Taking the conservative figure of 6,000 candidates contesting UP poll spread over 7 phases this time round and multiplying it by the ceiling fixed by EC, the cumulative accounted expenditure by all candidates touches Rs 1,680 crore.

There was a jump of over 52 percent in the number of candidates fighting 2012 UP poll compared to 2007, when 4,487 candidates had represented different parties or contested as independents.

However, the candidates’ actual poll spend is usually much higher than EC ceiling and has been estimated at 5-10 times by different experts. The candidates seeking election incur towards volunteers and party workers, besides expending for publicity, canvassing, vehicles, election office, snacks, tents etc.

The actual spend in accounted money could still be higher, since political parties have the leeway to legitimately expend towards rallies and public meetings to support their candidates. This expenditure account is audited separately from the respective candidates’ expenditure.

Meanwhile, it has to be borne in mind that demonetisation has to some extent impacted liberal availability of cash in the economy and thus check unaccounted funds finding its way to poll.

Besides, demonetisation could also limit the number of candidates contesting as independents. The actual impact would, however, could be ascertained only post election.

The UP election is being held in 7 phases with scattered voting between February 11 and March 8, 2017. Nearly150 million electorates are eligible to cast vote.

The counting of votes would be held on March 11 for all the five poll bound states viz. UP, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur.