Indian Express 15.11.2010
From Rs 19.5 cr last time to 30 cr next, BMC stares at mega jump in poll costs
Over the last 15 years, the BMC has been finding itself spending more and more each on successive municipal election with the electorate having grown from poll to poll.
From an expenditure of less than Rs 8 crore on the civic elections of 1997, the estimated expenditure in the elections of February 2012, where corporators for 227 wards will be decided, will be over Rs 30 crore, say officials in the BMC election department. The number of eligible voters is likely to touch one crore, they say, citing population estimates available with the State Election Commission on the basis of the ongoing census.
The electorate has grown progressively from 66.17 lakh in 1992 to 83.88 lakh in the last polls of 2007.
Joint municipal commissioner (election) S S Shinde said the increase in cost is directly proportional to the increase in number of polling booths. “Our expenditure is always calculated on a per-booth basis as we require five employees per booth. With the increase in population and the inclusion of more citizens in the above-18 age group, the number of eligible voters has ballooned and thus the number of booths has also increased,” said Shinde.
A recent directive by the State Election Commission has restricted to 1,000 the number of voters per booth. An official said this guideline is set to raise the number of booths considerably, adding to the overall expenditure. The 2007 polls were conducted in 6,792 booths, with an average 1,200 to 1,600 voters registered at each. The new guideline will take the number of booths to nearly 10,000.
The step has been taken to encourage a higher turnout, he said. “Often, when there are too many voters at one polling booth, the sight of a long queue puts people off. We expect the turnout to rise due to the new guideline”
