How much to budget for Poll Campaign
Every other day, I read about enormous sums required for election campaigns. Political Scientists have estimated that Assembly Election campaigns cost anywhere between Rs. 2 Cr to Rs. 15 Cr, depending on location and size of constituency.
So, I ran this puzzle with a few school friends. If they were to stand in election in South Delhi which roughly spreads south of Ring Road for about 250 sq.km , between Yamuna and Dwarka.
We estimated, about 35 Lakh people reside in this area (27L as per Census 2011). Last Lok Sabha election had 15L voters which is nearly 60%. Assuming same percentage, 2019 elections should have 21 lakh voters. This constituency is a melange of voters – from prosperous areas of Hauz Khas, Greater kailash, Lajpat Nagar to middle class areas of Vasant Kunj, Munirka, Kalkaji and then poorer belt of Delhi like Sangam Vihar, Deoli and Ambedkar Nagar.
The main challenge in election is to touch the voter through different means – Mass Meetings, Rallies, through volunteers, Electonic media, WhatsApp groups etc.
Consider each mass event with audience of 5000 people, if a serious contender wants to connect with 1.5 million people, he will need to organise 300 meets.
At a meagre budget of Rs 1L, this will require 3 Cr.
Then, 10000 banners / posters @ Rs. 5000 will cost about Rs.50 Lakh.
Running a radio campaign for 1 month across 10 FM channels in Delhi will require Rs. 25 to 30 Lakh
The candidate will need a volunteer base of 50 people working for 3 months, who will need to be provided basic expenses @1000 per day which makes it Rs. 1.5 Cr.
Then add vehicles, fuel etc. @ 10 vehicles for Rs. 3000 per day for 30 days, which is another 10L.
We know that there is “Cash for Vote”, but a genuine candidate will not provide for that. Thus, running a clean campaign in South Delhi should require about 5 Cr to 6 Cr. investment.
Such a crying shame for my country. How can a poor man ever dream of contesting an election.
Wake up, my country.