State Funding of Elections

Oligarchy is a system of power structure where effective power is in the hands of only a few people. The Indian system of government and the parliament, though democratic in theory, could effectively become an amalgamation of several oligarchies in the coming years due to continued use of money and muscle power in winning elections.

Under the election law, a candidate fighting Lok Sabha elections can spend a maximum of Rs 40 lakh for his election campaigns. This provision was brought in to give a level playing field to candidates irrespective of the financial resources they have. However, this spending limit is breached with impunity by the rich candidates, who spend on an average 10 to 15 times the official limit with the assumption that spending more money on election campaign can convert to more votes. Political parties have also started believing in this notion and thus majority of the candidates to whom tickets are given are the proverbial “crorepatis”. Thus, the poor candidates are losing out on getting tickets from political parties.

To tackle the menace of money power in elections, one of the solutions is bringing in a system of state funding of elections. In such a system, the government itself would fund, partially or fully depending upon the particular model adopted, election expenses of political parties and independent candidates. This will eliminate the need of giving tickets to only rich candidates, thus incentivizing parties to give tickets to poor people as well. The state funding of elections thus has the potential to give a more representative and broad-based parliament and not merely an amalgamation of several oligarchies