This time the polling exercise, due to start on April 11 and be completed by May 19, will cost an unprecedented 500 billion rupees ($7 billion),accordingto the New Delhi-based Centre for Media Studies. About$6.5 billionwas spent during the US presidential and congressional races in 2016, according to OpenSecrets.org, which tracks money in American politics.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of the jump in spending will come in use of social media, travel and advertising,\u201d said N. Bhaskara Rao, chairman of the Centre for Media Studies, who has advised previous governments and ran a market research group.<\/p>\n
Social media spending<\/strong> is likely to be dramatically higher, surging to about 50 billionrupees from 2.5 billion rupees in 2014, Rao said. His group\u2014which bases its projections on field interviews, government data, contracts given out, and other research\u2014also expects a jump in the use of helicopters, buses and other transportation by traveling candidates and party workers.<\/p>\n With more than 8,000 contestants fighting for around 545seats, there\u2019s tough competition to win over voters. And a secret ballot ensures that a bribe can\u2019t necessarily guarantee a vote. Gifts can help indicate to voters that the contestant wields influence and resources,<\/p>\n Blenders, television sets and occasionally even goats arehanded outas gifts in some areas. The Election Commission seized more than 1.3 billion rupees of unaccounted cash, gold, alcohol and drugs last year during a tight election in the state of Karnataka.<\/p>\n Politicians love a good rally: They crisscross the country, corralling locals into large tents where they\u2019re bombarded with campaign rhetoric.<\/p>\n To attract a crowd, some politicians may need to offer a box of food filled with biryani or chicken curry that can be too expensive for average citizens. That\u2019s not to mention money needed for firecrackers, chairs, microphones, security and vehicles to ferry the participants back and forth.<\/p>\n The Election Commission has long warned about dummy candidates: nominating someone with the same name as a front runner to confuse voters and split the vote.<\/p>\n As much as 26 billion rupees will be spent on advertising in the upcoming elections, according to Zenith India.<\/p>\n In February alone, more than 40 million rupees was spent onpolitical advertising on just one site\u2014Facebook\u2014the company\u2019s report shows. Then there are T-shirts with the slogan \u201cNamo Again\u201d (Narendra Modi Again) peddled by his camp.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This time the polling exercise, due to start on April 11 and be completed by May 19, will cost an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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a look at where some of the money goes:<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Can Goats Help Win Votes?<\/b><\/h3>\n
Rallying the Troops With Chicken Curry<\/b><\/h3>\n
Dummy Candidates<\/h3>\n
Brand Building: Make India Great Again Swag<\/b><\/h3>\n