According to recent reports, a whopping 10,000cr was spent during these elections in Andhrapradesh. This was for 294 MLA seats and 42MP seats. This shows the desperation of the politicians to come to power. Where this money comes from and where it will go? Election campaigning is not just about communication, it’s about convincing people about politician’s candidature and to convince people that he is right person for the job. Politicians won many elections by their false manifestos and failed promises. People were falling to their tricks but slowly the scenario changed. Politicians started realizing the same. Stated many reasons for voting them later cast , religion, reservation and region. These are also worked and still working but these are not winning them seats. Now concentration moved to weaknesses of poor and middle class which is major chunk in Indian voters list. Money, Alcohol, TVs , Fans, laptops and computers and many other things brought forward to influence voters. Many voters in seemandhra were paid 2000 per vote though there is no guarantee that voter will vote for them. 25 to 30 crores spent for each MLA region which is a huge sum. Politician attains power by spending so much money. Once the politician is in power, his first objective is to get back his principle with interest. Legally earning this much money is not possible. Corruption and scams are the preferred ways. Once he gains principle back from budgets, plans and bribes, plan will start for the second objective. The second objective is to come back to the power again. More money required and they follow the same route. Principle will be invested again in the next election and this goes on. This is a vicious cycle that never ends. The only way to end this is to break this cycle. Only voters can break this cycle. They need to realize that what parties are distributing is their own money. Sacrificing their vote for the smaller and short term benefits is too naïve. Bigger picture and objectives need to be considered while voting. Voting politicians for their performance can break the cycle. This will not only reduce the money spent in election but also lead to high performance of the leaders. The way AAP has formed the party and came to power in Delhi is one such example. Unfortunately they couldn’t do the stay in power. These examples need to be repeated but can only be done by people. Every voter should track the performance of the politician of their region until the next election to decide on next voting. Otherwise this vicious cycle of Money, Power and Corruption will never end. This will not only dent the region’s but the country’s growth. ISHAANI