In One Stroke, PM Modi Hits at the Root of India's 'Election Economy'

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posted on 8 years ago — updated on 1 second ago

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Two-and-a-half years after he won an election dubbed as the most expensive election in Indian history, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has dealt a huge blow to India’s much-talked election economy by scrapping all Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes.

“We talk about use of black money in elections. We have to set the country free from corruption and black money,” Modi said in his televised address to the nation while announcing the surprise move.

The funding of political parties and their election campaigns remain opaque almost seven decades after Independence. Various studies and surveys done on the issue show that candidates with no money or less money have almost zero chance of winning an Indian election.

Minutes after PM’s announcement, speaking to CNN News18 noted political analyst and politician Prof. Yogendra Yadav said that it was a good decision to curb the influence of money in our electoral politics. But he attacked the BJP for calling it a “surgical” strike on election economy. IN PICTURES: It's Chaos on the Road as Panicked People Queue up Outside ATMs

According to a study done by the Centre for Media Studies (CMS) over Rs 30,000 crore was spent on the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. On an average, a whopping Rs 55 crore was spent in each Lok Sabha seat in the country. But official spending by the ECI and the Government of India would only be around Rs. 7,000 – Rs. 8,000 crores. The former Prime Minister AB Vajpayee had once lamented that, “Indian politicians start their legislative careers with a lie — the false spending returns they submit. How can we expect them to be honest?”

H Vishwanath, a senior Congress leader and former minister from Karnataka, said that tens of thousands of crores of such money had become now become worthless. Speaking to News18 he said “we all know how mining mafia ruined Karnataka politics. The entire money was in cash. I am sure, thousands of crore in cash has been kept at various places for the next election. All these have now become worthless. Hope the good people win next time”.

UP and Punjab together expected to witness a flow of at least Rs.5000 crore in the next assembly election. With PM Modi ruining their party, all major political parties will have to really fight hard to raise money for a decent show.