West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking him to call for an all-party-meeting to discuss public funding of elections and “root out corruption”, reported PTI. Banerjee, in her letter, voiced concerns over reports of exorbitant spending in this year’s Lok Sabha elections.
“The issue is broadly of electoral reforms and specifically to prevent corruption and criminality in our democratic polity,” the chief minister said. “The time has come for government funding of elections which is the norm today in 65 countries in the world.”
Citing a Centre of Media Studies report titled, “Poll Expenditure, the 2019 election”, Banerjee said the General Elections this year had been the “most expensive election ever, anywhere” and was two times more expensive than the Lok Sabha elections held in 2014, ANI reported.
She further said that going by the report the spending in the elections this year had reached at least Rs 60,000 crore, and that the maximum expenditure was possibly “much higher”.
“The time has come for government funding of elections which is the norm today in 65 countries in the world,” Banerjee wrote. She also highlighted that the matter was raised in Trinamool Congress’ manifesto in 2014 and 2019. “The issue is broadly of electoral reforms and specifically to prevent corruption and criminality in our democratic polity,” the letter read, according to The Indian Express.
The 2019 Lok Sabha elections were conducted in seven phases between April and May 19. The results of the elections had been declared on May 23.
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