By-polls budget hovers around Rs.500 crore

Hyderabad: The ensuing bye-elections in the state is likely to cost a staggering Rs 450 to Rs 500 crore, according to preliminary estimates.

Both the state and the political parties as well as their candidates plunging into the fray are going to pay a high price- whether it be on the campaign or otherwise.

In all likelihood, the election time spending may not be within the expenditure limits permitted by the Election Commission.

It is being attributed by and large to the inflationary trends. Some of the parties have attached greater political significance to this round of polls.

For them it ushered in a 'do or die' situation. For the three major parties-Congress, Telugu Desam and YSR Congress, the by-polls are considered to be all important semi-final before the big tussle ahead in 2014 .

As far as YSR Congress Party is concerned, Jaganmohan Reddy should be able to win more seats to seek some comfort from the difficult times being faced in the wake of CBI probe being extended to more of his family owned companies besides the Jagati Publications- Sakshi daily.

For Congress, this round of by-election matters much. It has to prove the support base enjoyed by its government in the massses. Seventeen of eighteen seats going to polls belonged to the Congress party.

TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu who lost in 2009 elections and waiting for a win in 2014 should get some seats to demonstrate his strength to the people of the state.

All the parties preferred financially sound contractors and businessmen for issuing their ticket in view of the ever escalating election costs.

Naidu had gone on record saying that it would be too difficult for a political party out of power for long to face the string of by-polls caused by the resignations of the sitting members for one reason or the other.

The spending limit for a Parliamentary constituency in major States, now stands at Rs. 40 lakh as against Rs. 25 lakh earlier. The limit for Assembly constituencies in the major States moves from Rs. 10 lakh to Rs. 16 lakh.

But, it would go 150 times more in some of the assembly constituencies and fifty times more in Nellore Lok sabha constituency in these bye-elections.

The assembly elections of Tirupathi, Udayagiri and Ongole is estimated as costly elections out of eighteen seats and the expenditure is predicted around Rs 150 crore.

For Tirupathi, all the three candidates are contractors and they would spend at least Rs 60 crore altogether.

B Karunakara Reddy of YSRCP, K Venkata Ramana of Congress and Chadalawda Krishna Murthy of TD are allegedly ready to spend huge amounts to muster the win.

Likewise, M Parvathamma, Congress, B Srinivas Reddy of YSRCP and D Janardhan of TD are contesting for Ongole and not caring the expenditure for electioneering and expenditure of them may likely touch around Rs 50 crore.

In Udayagiri too, Congress candidate K Vijayarami Reddy, B Rama Rao of TD and Mekapati Chandrasekhara Reddy of YSRCP have made up their mind to win in the elections at any cost. The cost of this election would be around Rs 40 crore.

As far as Nellore Lok Sabha bye-election is concerned, all the three candidates owe their financial support to different businesses including construction companies.

Some business houses too jumped into the election management in favour of Congress candidate T Subbirami Reddy. TD candidate Vonteru Venugopala Reddy and M Rajamohan Reddy of YSRCP are spending to their level best and the cost of the Nellore Lok Sabha may touch Rs 75 crore.

Contractors and mining company owners were in the fray in Rajampet assembly constituency in YSR-Kadapa district and, Rayadurgam in Ananthapur district.

The expenditure of the remaining fifteen assembly constituencies including Ramachandrapuram, Narasannapet, Payakaraopet, Polavaram, Narasapuram, Railway Koduru, Rajampet, Rayachoti, Rayadurgam, Ananthpur, Macharla, Prathipadu, Yemmiganur, Allagadda and Parkal is estimated between Rs 225 crore to Rs 275 crore.

As some of the contestants are considered to be big money spinners, the Election Commission has been monitoring their accounts. In all 400 big accounts are under the scanner of the EC in the state.

The Elections Commission seized as much as Rs 20 crore in cash. A fair share of this money seized so far was intended for use in the election-bound constituencies.