Funding Democracy Fairly: Proposing a Rawlsian Model of Electoral Funding in India

In one of his last televised interviews in April 2004, Atal Bihari Vajpayee had warned the nation with remarkable foresight, “Raajneeti bohot khatarnak stithi ki or jaa rahi hai. Jan-tantra dhan-tantra me badal raha hai. Ye desh ke liya accha nahi hai.” (Politics is reaching a dangerous point. Democracy is transgressing into plutocracy. This is not good for the country). And contemporary India seems to be living through that prophetic warning.

Nowadays, the elections in India are increasingly fought on the power of the purse. Electoral contests based on ideological differences have taken a backseat. And most election manifestos fail to offer any substantive choice to the voters. ‘Free electricity’, ‘cash transfers to women’, ‘freebies’, ‘good governance’, ‘investment support’, ‘employment promises’, ‘infrastructure boost’, ‘farmers’ welfare’ etc., are stock phrases sprinkled across the poll promises of all serious political parties competing against each other. The electoral contests have thus been commoditized to a great extent; it is the money power that now acts as one of the foremost determinants of the efficacy of electoral campaigns, through narrative control, candidate selection, and the deplorable cash-for-votes dynamics.

On the spending side, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), alone, accounted for nearly 45% of the total election-related expenditure by all the parties in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. India had 70+ recognised parties contesting those elections. On the funding side too, it was the BJP that received over ₹6000 crores in donations in Financial Year (FY) 2024-25. This was nearly tenfold the amount received by the remaining five national parties combined.