The Indian Express
WITH JUST months to go for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the government has sought Parliament’s approval to spend an additional Rs 3,147.92 crore on the exercise and electronic voting machines (EVMs), taking the total proposed expenditure on the polls to over Rs 5,000 crore.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabled the first batch of supplementary demand for grants for 2023-2024 in the Lok Sabha on December 6 for a total additional expenditure of Rs 1.29 lakh 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.”
