Election Commission (EC) has written to the union finance ministry seeking Rs 55 crore for conducting the assembly elections in Karnataka.EC officials, who did not want to be identified, told Business Standard: "As we intend to hold the polls in the second or third week of May, we have to work out the logistics.We have estimated poll expenditure to be over Rs 50 crore. So, we have requested the union finance ministry to release Rs 55 crore at the earliest."The funds sought for the forthcoming elections will be Rs 15 crore more than what was spent during the assembly and Lok Sabha elections in 2004. EC officials added: "The total poll expenditure in 2004 was Rs 40.75 crore but we expect it to be higher this time as there has been a considerable hike in input costs including that of fuel used in vehicles that will be engaged for election duty."The EC has pegged the estimated poll expenditure at Rs 55 crore after taking into account the money spent on conducting the Chamundeshwari and Ullal assembly by-polls in 2007. The expenditure incurred was around Rs 25 lakh in each of these constituencies. "There are 224 assembly segments in the state, and if the by-poll expenditure is taken as the basis for estimating the fund requirement for the coming polls, we need around Rs 56 crore. We are, however, quite optimistic of completing the exercise with a budget of Rs 55 crore," officials said.A total of 600,000 government personnel will be deployed for election duty - of these, about 300,000 will be from the state and central police units. The EC is also planning to increase the remuneration for these personnel.
