No recession for India election spending

No recession for India election spending
13 hours ago
NEW DELHI (AFP) — Election season means spending season in India, where the world's largest democratic exercise triggers a cash splurge on everything from leasing private planes to buying individual votes.
According to a survey by the Centre for Media Studies (CMS), the month-long general election beginning on April 16 will witness an outlay of something like 100 billion rupees (two billion dollars).
Of that total, about 20 billion rupees will be spent by the national Election Commission and state governments on organising the actual polling, which be held in five stages and requires a mammoth security operation.
The rest will be spent by official parties and individual candidates, with the CMS estimating that as much as 25 billion rupees has been earmarked for "unofficial" cash purchases of individual votes on the eve of balloting.