With Prime Minister Narendra Modi flaunting the halo of a new messiah for women and the Opposition gloating over its victory in the Lok Sabha by defeating the ruling NDA’s Delimitation Bill, nobody appears to be bothered about the financial catastrophe India has just escaped. The opposition parties may well have good reason to resist the ruling party’s bid to redesign the electoral college to its advantage in the guise of women’s reservation among elected representatives. But this political dispute appears to have quite overshadowed the complete financial lunacy of the threatened delimitation tamasha. Indeed, it underscores the complete callousness of our pampered elected representatives to those who elected them.

A closer examination of the financial load the Delimitation Bill sought to impose on the nation reveals what would have been a crushing blow to the economy. The actual cost of maintaining the new 273 members of parliament and 2000 state assembly legislators, arbitrarily imposed through proposed delimitation, adds up to an astronomic bill. India can ill afford such wasteful expenditure, particularly in these turbulent times of tariff wars and global conflict.

While it is impossible to calculate the exact amounts that the state exchequer would have to dole out for these extra representatives, even broad estimates based on their salaries, allowances, and entitlements are, to put it mildly, hair-raising.

After going through various sources, the annual obvious cost for each MP, including basic salary, allowances, perks, and official travel at work, home or abroad........

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