Maharashtra polls’ budget up by 66% as compared to 2019

PUNE: The state budget has allocated Rs1,500 crore for the upcoming assembly polls, a rise of almost 66% vis-a-vis last assembly elections in 2019.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday announced the schedule for the Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana polls and said it would declare the poll dates for the state in the next phase along with Jharkhand.
With the polls likely to be held in October-November, the recent state budget had made allocations for the financial year. “This year, the budget provision of Rs 1500 crore has been earmarked for the assembly elections. There is a good rise in budgetary allocation as voters and the requirements for conducting the polls have increased. Owing to increase in the number of polling booths, manpower and hike in stipends of booth level officers for door-to-door visits, the allocation had to be increased this time,” said a source from the state finance department.

In the last assembly elections in 2019, the state made a budget provision of Rs 900 crore, which was more than 100% rise from Rs 421 crore in 2014. In 2019, the number of electorates in the state was 8.9 crore, which has now shot up to nearly 9.4 crore, with likely addition in the final summary roll to be published on August 31. The polling booths, which were around 96,654, have increased to 1lakh. The state had provided Rs 1,700 crore in the budgetary allocation for this year for the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections.
A senior official said there were several reasons for the rise in the cost of conducting elections, such as use of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT), increase in the number of polling stations and rise in transportation cost.
As per ECI guidelines, there should be no more than 1,500 voters in one polling booth. The expenditure for conducting the Lok Sabha election is made by the state and later reimbursed by the Centre, while the expenditure of the assembly election is borne by the state govt.
“Though so much funds are being put into the process, efforts to ensure better facilities for polling staffers are missing,” an analyst said.