Joe Biden and Donald Trump
The Supreme Court declared the Electoral Bond Scheme brought for funding political parties in India as unconstitutional. Also, State Bank of India was asked to provide information related to purchase and sale of bonds after April 12, 2019 to the Election Commission. This matter has again reached the Supreme Court and questions are being raised on the 'huge donations' received by the Bharatiya Janata Party. Amidst the ongoing controversy in India, why not know today how political parties are funded in America.
Presidential elections in America are to be held at the end of this year. After Nikki Haley's exit from the election race, it has now been decided for the President that Donald Trump and Joe Biden will be face to face. According to estimates, this American election is also going to be very expensive. If we talk about the 2020 Presidential elections, then approximately Rs 1 lakh, 15 thousand crores were spent. It was said that this was double the expenditure in the 2016 US presidential election. The elections in America, which are becoming more expensive year after year, have been a topic of headlines all over the world.
How does funding work in America?
Here, candidates contesting elections raise funds in two ways. One is the government method of funding and the other is to raise money from private institutions. The rules and regulations regarding government funding are such that candidates resort to private funding instead. There is no limit to private funding. Under private funding, candidates receive donations from private institutions, corporations and individuals. Whereas if you have taken government funds then you cannot claim private funding.
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There are two broad conditions for government funding. First – you should be popular as a candidate. The question is how to assess this, then the answer is that for this the candidates have to raise funds in 20 out of 50 states in the primary elections. The question is how much funds have to be raised. Actually, there is a system in America that to stake claim on government funding, you have to raise at least 5 thousand dollars in each of these 20 states. In this way you have to raise funds of more than Rs 1 lakh. The second condition is that candidates cannot spend more than 50 thousand dollars in their elections and whenever the Election Commission conducts the audit, you will have to give complete accounts.
Who currently has how much funds?
President Joe Biden has raised funds worth approximately Rs 600 crore till September. However, if we look at the amount of donations received by Biden in America, we will find that the donations he receives are very small. Biden's average donation is $40. The interesting thing is that Trump's election fund in the last 9 months is also around that of Biden. Like Joe Biden, Trump has also been able to raise funds of only about Rs 600 crores. Nikki Haley is now out of the presidential race, but if we look at her funds, she had received a total donation of Rs 340 crore.
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