There is no democracy without elections. However, political researchers have generally pointed out that corruption begins with the scale of expenditure on these same elections. Over the years, elections have been incurring huge expenditures on the part of political parties, candidates, Election Commission etc. There is also a trend of paying voters to secure votes in many parts of the country. None of this can be shown in any accounts. Similarly, it is an open secret that election expenses cannot be incurred within the amount determined by the Election Commission.

The election methods are on the pattern of a big festival, which has led to a multifold increase in the amount of expenditure. All political parties fund their expenses by collecting donations. All parties approach rich people, businessmen, big companies etc for donations. Big business expects a lot when it comes to donating. Just like a to-and-fro helping policy, they pay more amounts mainly to ensure that there are no moves on the part of the party in power to disrupt the progress of their business. Similarly, money spent on elections is also an investment for some political parties and candidates. Attempts to make multiple amounts of that money may be made later.

Expenditure cannot be controlled without a fundamental change in the current electoral system and structure. Elections cannot be avoided on the grounds of cost. Political parties will have to take donations some way or the other. The Electoral Bond system came into force in 2017. Parties used to collect donations before that as well. The law required that the information of those who donate more than Rs 20,000 should be shown in the annual accounts submitted by the respective political parties to the Income Tax Department. No one knew the route of the flow of money from 1952 when the first general election was held to 2017. Most of that money has to be considered black money.

The BJP government introduced the bond system in 2017 to change this and convert the donation into white money. Thus, the money given was accounted for. Donations can be given only through the exchange agency SBI. The government passed the law to know exactly who donated to whom, but they don't have to disclose it. The Supreme Court struck down the Electoral Bond system as it lacked transparency. A return to the old donation system will result in an inflow of black money, which should not happen. So a flawless new method must be introduced to collect money. If payers don't want to reveal who they gave it to, shouldn't that also be protected? A new system that takes all of this into account has to be formulated.