How political parties are beating the EC's cap on poll expenses, legally

Cap of Rs 28 lakh per candidate or Rs 15 per voter in UP excludes expenses on star campaigners

The BJP and the Congress have the biggest financial muscle in the upcoming elections, with a corpus of Rs 760 crore and Rs 702 crore, respectively. With 96 million voters in five states going to polls, the BJP and Congress have the capacity to spend Rs 79 and Rs 73, respectively, on every voter.

However, the Election Commission of India (ECI) allows a candidate to spend on an average no more than Rs 15 per voter in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous and electorally crucial state with 76 million voters, which goes to polls between February 11 and March 8. Here's a look at the math. The ECI has set a cap of Rs 28 lakh per candidate per constituency for bigger states like UP. In Goa and Manipur, the limit is set even lower at Rs 20 lakh. With 403 seats being contested in UP, no political party can spend more than Rs 113 crore. Divide this Rs 113 crore by 76 million voters and we get a cap of Rs 15 per voter.

In Uttar Pradesh, Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the two regional parties are almost equal in terms of their spending capacity. Both have also put up candidates in states other than UP. The SP, with a corpus of Rs 588 crore, can spend Rs 61 on every voter in all states combined. Mayawati’s party, with a corpus of Rs 557 crore, can spend Rs 58.

In Punjab, despite the extensive business interests of the Badal family, the Shiromani Akali Dal’s (SAD) audited annual accounts show that it has a corpus of just Rs 1.65 crore. That means it can spend a little over Re 1 on each of Punjab’s 14 million voters. In comparison, the fledgling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) can spend Rs 6 on every Punjab voter, with a corpus eight times the size of the SAD.

So, does the ECI’s limit of Rs 53/voter offer a level-playing field for all political parties, despite the wide chasm in their spending capacities? Not exactly. The ECI may have restricted the spending ability of a party’s candidate, but the Commission’s rules also give enough leeway to political parties to spend beyond their candidate’s limit.

In India, where a national leader (star campaigner)'s charisma can decide the fate of the party’s candidate in state elections, the ECI’s leeway comes handy. The ECI’s rules state that if a star campaigner addresses a rally in a constituency where the candidate doesn’t share the dais, then the expenditure is not deemed to have been incurred by the candidate. However, if the candidate’s name is mentioned by the star campaigner or is displayed on hoardings featuring the star campaigner, then the entire expense of the rally is regarded as having been incurred by the candidate. Every candidate has to open a separate bank account from which expenses are incurred, which makes it easy for the ECI to monitor such expenses. The ECI allows national parties to enlist 40 star campaigners, while local parties are allowed 20.

In the BJP's case, for instance, Narendra Modi is the biggest star campaigner and every rally he addresses involves elaborate arrangements whose costs run into crores. If he were to address a rally in Rita Bahuguna Joshi’s Lucknow Cantonment constituency, then Joshi would have to bear the entire expense of the rally if she shared the podium with Modi or wanted her name to be announced by him. That, of course, would leave her with little money for the rest of her campaign. The moment Modi utters Joshi’s name, a Returning Officer (RO) monitoring the rally makes an expenditure entry into Joshi’s shadow observation register. Such registers are maintained by the ECI for every candidate. Now, given Modi’s popularity, Joshi would want her name to be taken by India’s prime minister to gain greater acceptability among voters. ECI rules allow Joshi that opportunity without exhausting her entire expenditure limit on a single Modi rally. According to the rules, if Modi takes Joshi's name along with that of Kalraj Mishra, the party’s candidate from Lucknow East in 2012 state polls, then the expenses will be shared equally between Joshi and Mishra. In effect, the more names Modi takes in his rally, the merrier it will be for Joshi.

There are other ways to avoid footing the bill. Given India’s vast geographical expanse, chopper hopping has become more effective than the tried-and-tested rath yatra (chariot campaign). Star campaigners have little time for each constituency and it has become a necessity to hire choppers. Flying in India doesn’t come cheap. But the ECI has rules that make it easy for candidates if a star campaigner descends in their constituency from the skies.  

As per the rules, if the name of a star campaigner has been intimated to the ECI within seven days of the election notification, then the chopper usage charges are not added to the candidate’s election expenses. But there are certain rules to be followed for a candidate to be avoid being charged.

Take the case of the Congress. Its star campaigner Priyanka Gandhi would have to sky hop UP, to enable her charm to do wonders for Congress candidates. If Raj Babbar were to be fielded in UP this time, then Babbar would have to ensure that neither he nor any of his associates share the chopper with Priyanka. If for some unavoidable reason, Babbar and Priyanka have to share a chopper, then half the expenses incurred for hiring the chopper, including parking charges, would have to be borne by Babbar. In that case, Babbar would have to ensure that Priyanka quickly addresses the rally and flies out of his constituency. That is not only because hiring a chopper costs a bomb, but waiting charges would eat into Babbar’s election spending limit of Rs 28 lakh. Even hiring a basic Bell-206 chopper can cost around Rs 70,000 an hour. Industry estimates suggest that charter operators don’t levy any waiting charges for up to three hours. Beyond that, anything between Rs 20,000 and Rs 50,000 is levied as waiting charge.

That’s where technology comes to the rescue of candidates. ECI rules permit the use of video vans for general party propaganda. The BJP used them quite effectively in 2014 general elections and the 2016 assembly elections in various states. The expenses incurred on video vans are booked to a party’s account and not the candidate's. But there are caveats here as well.

Take Uttarakhand for instance. The BJP wants to win the Himalayan state but it might be difficult for its star campaigners to traverse Uttarakhand’s rugged terrain. So video vans beaming Modi’s speeches and propaganda will fan out to remote corners of the state. If Modi’s video address mentions the name of the candidate, then the expense will be charged on the candidate. In states like Uttarakhand that may be a small price to pay for candidates who stand to gain a lot following personal endorsement by Modi. Video vans come relatively cheap and have proven to be an attractive form of campaigning in small towns and villages where rural folk are enamored by the big screen beaming a distant leader’s personal appeal.

If there is big money, there certainly is a way to spend it on getting votes in India, without inviting the Election Commissions glare.