Lok Sabha polls to cost more than US presidential election

At a staggering Rs 10,000 crore, the Lok Sabha polls this summer would cost more than what Barack Obama and others spent in the US presidential race.

According to information available with the US Federal Election Commission, Obama and other candidates collectively spent close to $1.8 billion (nearly Rs 8,000 crore) in the 2007-08 Presidential Elections.

A survey conducted by Centre for Media Studies (CMS) back home pegs the estimated amount to be spent on the Lok Sabha elections, which would determine the next government in the country, at about Rs 10,000 crore ($2 billion).

This does not include the cost of holding assembly polls in states like Andhra Pradesh and Orissa.

While the cost of US elections was spread over a year, India would see the massive spending in a matter of months.

The estimated Rs 10,000 crore cost for the Lok Sabha elections includes about one-fourth or Rs 2,500 crore being spent through "unofficial money" or the cash to be paid to voters by the candidates, the CMS survey says.

The latest presidential elections in the US has been billed as the most expensive ever, with cost doubling from the previous elections held in 2004.

Similarly, the cost of general elections in India, according to CMS, is also set to more than double this year from about Rs 4,500 crore in last Lok Sabha polls and would be the highest in the history of the country.