"Money changes everything." And nowhere is that proverb more taken to heart than in Indian elections where crores of rupees are spent by candidates whether or not he/ she will win. In the Festival of Democracy, ironically it is the candidate who spends the most money or is richer than other competing candidates who usually wins. Though there are examples of Victory Goddess smiling on candidates having little wealth, their percentage is less.
Overall, campaigning all through the Constituency, reaching remotest corners with ground-level supporters ends up being the major expense. In 2014 election, the average campaign expense of each candidate ate up almost 43 percent of the total money spent. In the increasingly high stakes world of election campaigning, aggressive displays of candidate's wealth, from cash handouts to food, freebies and alcohol distribution, to big rallies, are becoming more common and more extravagant.
