Lok Sabha Elections 2019: With an overall population of over 1.5 billion and counting, India stands proud as the largest democracy of the world. As the country heads for the much-awaited Lok Sabha Elections 2019, political parties, ipso-facto, have fastened their seatbelts and stage is set for a historic electoral battle in the history of Indian politics post freedom. With political activities such as rallies, press conferences and public meetings happening in full throttle, the season of elections has arrived and stakes are high for everyone – leaders, political parties and even the common man!

While the Central government witnesses a shift of power every 5 years, the 17 Lok Sabha polls is expected to be unique in different ways – one being ‘most expensive’ General Elections in the history of Indian politics. Though it is too early to predict how much money will ultimately be spent by these political parties, experts believe that the total spending will easily go beyond $5 billion – an estimated cost of 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

“If the 2014 Lok Sabha elections cost an estimated USD 5 billion, there is little doubt the 2019 election will easily surpass that — making India’s elections the world’s most expensive,” Milan Vaishnav, a senior fellow and director of the South Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace think-tank told news agency PTI.

Vaishnav also highlighted that the estimated the cost of the 2009 general election was around $2 billion whereas 2014 saw the expense of $5 billion (Rs 3,49,29,75,00,00,000) and thus argues that the cost may double this time.

“The exorbitant cost of Indian elections has become a cardinal fact of the Indian political economy that is widely acknowledged and lamented including by politicians and their donors. But it is not simply the material outlays that grab one's attention; it is the manner in which the money flows,” he said.

With India’s complex political funding reforms and unanimity of donors, it is very tough to predict how much overall funding does political parties get. There are no provisions in the constitution to find out the sources of these political funding. “Although political parties benefit from an exemption on income tax, their accounts are not subject to any genuine scrutiny.

"The best one can say is that parties deign to submit a perfunctory annual statement of accounts – which is signed off by a handpicked auditor of their choosing – to the Election Commission. And although candidates are required to disclose the minutiae of their campaign spending, their disclosures do not pass the smell test," Vaishnav wrote.

With social media campaigns, digital advertisement, mega rallies and much more, mainstream political parties such as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress and others have left to no stones unturned to reach out to a larger number of voters in different parts of the country. A recent report also suggests that both BJP and Congress have already upped their advertisement games on social media. It is believed that social media alone could account for around 25 per cent of a party’s total electioneering expense.

At this moment, it will be tough to predict whose monetary expenditure will accomplish wonders in the Lok Sabha Election results, but with such colossal spending, stakes are high for every political institution and individual leaders.