Chicken curry and elephant question: Why Indian elections are so expensive

The latest polling exercise, due to start on April 11 and be completed by May 19, will cost an unprecedented Rs 50,000 crore.

The world’s biggest democracy will soon hold what’s likely to be one of the world’s costliest elections. India’s six-week-long vote will span the Himalayan range in the north, the Indian Ocean in the south, the Thar desert in the west and the mangroves of the Sundarbans in the east.

This time the polling exercise, due to start on April 11 and be completed by May 19, will cost an unprecedented Rs 50,000 crore ($7 billion), according to the New Delhi-based Centre for Media Studies. About $6.5 billion was spent during the U.S. presidential and congressional races in 2016, according to OpenSecrets.org,