With an estimated cost of Rs424 billion to make arrangements for electronic voting for 133 million native voters and 10 million overseas voters, the next general elections will likely be the most expensive ballot in the history of Pakistan.
These are the consolidated estimates that Geo News collected from election regulators, including the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), federal and provincial governments, political parties, donors, NGOs and candidates.
According to an estimate given by the ECP, the 2023 polls will cost the federal government roughly a 1,000 times more than the last three general elections, which totaled Rs28.6 billion. The employment of electronic voting arrangements for domestic and international voters accounts for a significant portion of the expense.
Moreover, the estimated cost of the upcoming polls is close to the budget allocated for the country’s largest province, Balochistan, for fiscal year 2021-22, which was Rs584.1 billion.
It is estimated that nearly Rs47 billion will be spent on transportation, polling exercise, training, printing, remunerations and security, if the ECP goes with the traditional mode of balloting. But nearly Rs230 billion will be spent on electronic voting machines (EVMs) and its related expenses, while overseas voting operations are likely to cost Rs100 billion, say the major stakeholders.
The ECP will also have to pay Rs17 billion for security arrangements, as around 0.9 million security personnel, including around 20,000 private security guards, will be deployed at polling stations. Nearly 50,000 CCTV cameras will also be installed at polling stations on election day.
The stakeholders say election authorities will need roughly Rs100 billion as an expense on electronic voting tools to be specified for overseas voters. The final estimates, stakeholders say, will be prepared near the upcoming elections in 2023.
Pakistan spent around Rs22 billion on the 2018 general elections, Rs4.73 billion in 2013 and Rs1.84 billion in 2008, ECP officials say.
