01
If you ask us, who is the strongest in this year's election? There is no doubt that it will be the United States! The Americans are unrivaled in their ability to tear up the big war, to revitalize themselves, and to exert tremendous influence on other rivals! However, in terms of scale and input costs, the United States will probably take a back seat, because India's elections are larger and the investment is higher.
Yes, it is India! Now that India's general elections have officially begun. Modi, who ruled India for a decade, broke through with the ball, assisted by 534 members of the lower house. Eventually, the party with the most votes becomes prime minister and a new Indian government is formed. Although the form is similar to that of the suzerain, the scale and cost are dozens of times higher.
It is estimated that about 969 million people in India have the right to vote, almost as many as the population of the United States, Japan and the European Union combined, and 12% of the global population. In 2019, India's general election cost $8.5 billion, making it the most expensive social practice at the time. Spending is expected to set a new record again this year, totaling more than 1.2 trillion rupees, or about $12 billion, equivalent to 2.9 percent of India's GDP in 2023, far more than Western democracies.
So where exactly does such a huge campaign fund come from?
02
When it comes to India, we can only describe it as "magical". Although India's constitution clearly states that it is a socialist secular democratic republic, in reality, India is not socialist, nor is it democratic, and there are serious religious and caste problems, and the only thing that is commendable is that it has built a unique democratic electoral system borrowed from the United Kingdom.
India's political parties also rely on the support of corporations and conglomerates, but India's operations are more complex, even surpassing those of Europe, the United States, Japan and South Korea. In 2018, the Modi government introduced an innovative donation model in which businesses and individuals can buy election bonds issued by the State Bank of India and donate anonymously to political parties. These bonds, which range in denominations from Rs 1,000 to Rs 10 million, are interest-free and yield-free, similar to buying in-game currency, with the only advantage being that there is no need for real-name registration.
After receiving the bonds, the political parties can convert them into rupees in Indian banks, which appears to be money laundering, but in fact it is not. In this way, campaign money flows subtly into the hands of politicians. Some people may wonder why they don't just donate and go through the banking process, which is where India excels. Hiding donor information makes it difficult to trace the source of funds and the exchange of interests between government and business cannot be detected, so even the gangsters can ......