Notwithstanding claims made by leaders of all political parties, the main criteria for considering the name of an aspirant for the Lok Sabha or the state assembly ticket is his financial standing. Sources say that the first question any candidate who seeks a party ticket faces is, “Can you bear the expenditure?”
Apparently this is one factor that cuts across party divides; Congress, TDP,TRS and even the newly-formed PRP are keen on candidates funding their own electoral aspirations. Even PRP, which is fighting the election on the plank of social justice, is on the look out for rich candidates from weaker sections.
It is said that the Lok Sabha and assembly elections put together would cost the two major parties, Congress and TDP, more than Rs 1000 crore each. The TRS and PRP are also trying to catch up with this estimate. “Try for the ticket if you can mobilise a sum of two to three crore,” is the suggestion many aspirants get from their seniors.
According to a conservative estimate, a candidate has to spend an average of Rs 3 crore per assembly segment, with some urban areas requiring more than Rs 6 crore per segment.
Since many of the candidates are either builders, mine owners, industrialists, liquor barons and contractors, money may not seem to be a big problem. This is also pushing up expenditure to very high levels in more than 150 constituencies in the state, says a Congress leader from Karimnagar.
Lok Satta leader Jayaprakash Narayan estimates that the expenditure by the principal parties would be around Rs 4 crore per constituency. “Even Obama, who won the American presidency cannot fight the election for Andhra assembly, because he is not rich enough to spend Rs 4 crore for the election,” he said.
Affluent aspirants for the Parliament are given tickets on the condition that they will also have to take care of the expenditure of the assembly segments in their constituency as well. At this rate the election expenditure would be over Rs 1000 crore per party as against the permitted figure of Rs 10 lakh per candidate for the assembly elections and Rs 25 lakh for Lok Sabha elections, said a sitting MP of the TDP.
The huge cost, however, is no deterrent to aspirants. “Spending a few crore is indeed a lucrative investment,” said a s m a l l - t i m e builder in the city. “The role of an MLA has become so crucial that no activity is taken up without his knowledge in the constituency,” he adds.
Of late candidates spend more amount as cash transfer to people of weaker sections. “Most of the expenditure is incurred for distribution among voters and party workers in addition to the cost of vehicles used for campaigning,” elaborates a Congress veteran. Leaders say that 50 per cent of the money is usually distributed to voters during the door-to-door campaigning that goes on just a day or two before the polling. Incidentally, Andhra Pradesh has the distinction of sending a large number of rich MPs to the Lok Sabha.
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