The world is glued to India as the country is all set to undergo the Lok Sabha Elections 2024. Lok Sabha Elections or General Elections 2024 is termed as the world's biggest ever election in which 87 crore registered voters will elect their representatives on 543 seats in the lower house of the Parliament. It is under the Lok Sabha Elections 2024, the winning representatives announced their leader who went on to become the Prime Minister of India. For the last two general elections, Narendra Modi is sealing massive victories for the BJP-led NDA alliance. For the first time, Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister in 2014 and thereafter he sealed another historic victory in 2019. Now, PM Modi has given a clarion call of 'Abki Baar 400 Par' means, the BJP leader has set a target to win more than 400 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections. On the other hand, the opposition led by Congress has united with other parties under the I.N.D.I.A alliance. The I.N.D.I.A alliance has turned out to be a major force that may dent PM Modi's clarion call. With so much at stake, the question what is the cost of conduction Lok Sabha Elections 2024 or Lok Sabha Elections 2024 cost or General Elections 2024 price? Below is a breakdown of funds allocated by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to conduct the world's biggest election ever-
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in December 2023 tabled the first batch of supplementary demand for grants for 2023-’24 in the Lok Sabha that included an additional Rs 3,147.92 crore for election-related expenditure and also Rs 73.67 crore for the Election Commission’s (EC) administration. Below is a brief breakdown in funds that will be used during Lok Sabha Elections 2024-
As per reports, the total cost is expected to cross over Rs 5000 crore. Of that, Rs 3,147.92 crore was proposed for the Law Ministry to fund election-related expenses and Rs 73.67 crore for the Election Commission for administrative expenses. As per the supplementary demand for grants for the Law Ministry, the government proposed spending Rs 2,536.65 crore for 'clearing the liability of Government of India' share towards election-related expenditure”.
Rs 36.20 crore for 'testing and maintenance of EVMs procured for ensuing Lok Sabha elections, 2024', and Rs 575.07 crore for 'procurement of EVMs for conducting Lok Sabha elections, 2024.'
As per reports, the Government of India's total expenditure on the general elections in 2004 was Rs 1,016 crore, Rs 1,114.3 crore in 2009, and Rs 3,870.3 crore in 2014 and in 2024 it is expected that the expenditure will be more than Rs 5000 crore.
As per reports, about 97 crore people will vote in the 2024 Lok Sabha election. This time around two crore new voters in the age group of 18 to 29 years have joined. When the first Lok Sabha elections of independent India were held in 1951-52, the total population of the country was only 36 crores. There were only 17.3 crore voters. Then the minimum age to vote was 21 years. Currently, this minimum age is 18 years. During the tenure of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, the voting age was reduced from 21 to 18.
In the first Lok Sabha Polls, there used to be 489 seats in the lower house of the Parliament. Now, there are 543 seats. There was no model code of conduct in the first two Lok Sabha elections. As per ECI's Special Summary Revision 2024 (SSR 2024) exercise, a total of over 96.88 crore voters are registered across the country. Furthermore, the ECI noted there has been a remarkable surge in female voter registrations, pointing at efforts towards gender parity. Female voter enrollment surpassed male voters during SSR 2024, with over 1.41 crore newly enrolled female electors.