How Much It Costs To Hold Jamili Elections?

A few states are slated to go for elections and the much-awaited Lok Sabha elections are due next year. However, a debate has been going on that says that Jamili elections will be held. The Union government is said to be interested in this and hence a debate is going on about this.

However, there are a few questions on whether this is possible as Jamili elections require a lot of manpower and infrastructure. Making the list of voters and arranging the polling booth is not an easy task.

Now a think tank has come up with a detailed estimation of how much money it takes to hold Jamili elections. The think tank said that it takes as much as ten lakh crores to hold Jamili elections in the country.

Talking about the Lok Sabha elections, the Center for Media Services predicted that it would take 1.20 lakh crores to hold the elections. There are 543 Lok Sabha seats in the country and the estimated cost for the elections is 1.20 lakh crores which is quite high.

When the focus goes onto the Assembly seats in the states, the estimated cost is 3 lakh crores. There are 29 states in the country and almost every state has more than 100 seats barring the northeast states. The most populated state in the country Uttar Pradesh has around 400 seats and there are a few states which have more than 200 seats.

Holding local body elections in the country on the go is also a costly affair. Center for Media predicted that Municipal elections would cost Rs 1 lakh crores and the estimated cost for Zilla Parishad, Mandal, and Village Panchayats would cost Rs 4.3 lakh crores.

In total, the estimated cost of the Jamili elections across the levels in the country is around Rs 10 lakh crores. However, the question here is whether we can afford such a big amount for elections alone. Ten lakh crores is not a small amount and can change the face of the country if spent in required areas like education, infrastructure, and others. We have to wait and see whether the Jamili elections will be held or not.