TNN
Bangalore, May 19: Electing 28 parliamentarians cost Karnataka Rs 80 crore — twice of what it spent in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls. "The increase in expenditure was due to a rise in remuneration for polling personnel," joint chief electoral officer B V Kulkarni said. He said Rs 3 crore (average) was spent in each LS constituency (total 28) in the state.
The use of electronic voting machines has reduced the expenditure of the EC to some extent. "Earlier, the EC required 8,500 tonnes of paper for printing ballot papers. The provisional expenditure in the last assembly elections in 2008 was Rs 65 crore."