The Hindu 19.03.2010
BBMP polls to be a costly affair
B.S. Ramesh
| Expenses pegged at Rs. 200 crore |
Expenditure of candidates could touch Rs. 750 crore
In 2001, they spent around Rs. 500 crore
BANGALORE: The much-delayed election to the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is likely to cost the State exchequer more than Rs. 200 crore.
This figure is up from the Rs. 150 crore that the Government had estimated several years ago when the State decided to merge several outlying areas around the city into what is today known as the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike.
It was in 2006 that the State Government hit upon the idea of constituting the BBMP by merging seven city municipal councils, one town municipal council and a village panchayat. The State had estimated that elections to the then 150-member BBMP would cost at least Rs. 150 crore.
Changed scenario
Four years down the line and with the BBMP expanded to 198 seats, the official election expenditure by the State is pegged at over Rs. 200 crore.
When the authority came into being, the number of wards went up from 100 to 150 and again to 198. Initially, each ward was expected to have an electorate of 40,000 to 50,000 people. The population, as per the 2001 Census increased from 43,01,326 in the then BMP area to nearly 60,00,296 in the new entity. The area of BBMP too has increased from 226 sq.km. to 741 sq.km.
Report
According to a report by the Department of Urban Development (UDD), the cost of conducting elections in the erstwhile CMCs would be one-third the cost of conducting polls to the BMP. While the cost of holding elections would be in the region of Rs. 50 crore, it would be Rs. 100 crore if indirect and direct expenses for the polls are taken into account.
Citing examples, it says when elections to the BMP were held in 2001, more than 25,000 employees drawn from the palike, State and Union governments and State and Central public sector undertakings (PSUs), banks and insurance companies and schools were involved. The Government spent Rs. 3 crore to ensure that these employees were put on election duty.
Of them, 5,000 personnel had to work round the clock for two months to ensure that the elections went off without a hitch and that the polling then was held in 2,500 polling stations.
Apart from all these expenses, the money spent by the contesting candidates had been pegged at Rs. 500 crore.
With elections being held to the civic body ten years later, the spending by the candidates is expected to be in the region of Rs. 750 crore or more.
Admission
An indication of this was given when the Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs, S. Suresh Kumar, recently admitted at a public function in Bangalore that a candidate would have to spend tens of lakhs for the BBMP polls.
