Since, demonetisation has sucked enormous amount of liquidity from the market and the new currency notes would take several weeks to restore normalcy, the prospective candidates sighting forthcoming UP elections as a ready medium to splurge unaccounted wealth have taken a major hit.
The demonetisation is likely to not only limit the number of candidates fighting polls as independents, but leave a sobering effect on the elections’ expenditure and scale compared to previous polls.
Due to its inherent unaccounted nature, there is no data to suggest the quantum of black money spent by candidatesduring the previous UP polls, yet estimates put the figure at several hundred crores of Rupees.
There are 403 assembly seats in UP and every seat witnesses multiple candidates trying their luck. In 2012, a total of 6,839 candidates had fought the state polls. Even by a conservative estimate of each candidate spending Rs 50 lakh on an average, the polls must have resulted in total spending of over Rs 3,000 crore, including legitimate spending.
