NEW DELHI: More than 60 per cent of around Rs 9,000 crore spent by the government towards Lok Sabha elections 2019 has been on the procurement of electronic voting machines ( EVM ) and voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) units.The direct expenses on Lok Sabha polls have been Rs 2,019 crore in three financial years, the second major expenditure head after the money spent on the procurement of EVMs. The "other" miscellaneous expenditure head constituted a third major component of the poll spend with Rs 1,317 crore.According to budget provisions for 2019-20, the government has allocated Rs 1,000 crore in the current financial year for clearing pending bills for the expenditure incurred in the Lok Sabha polls. But, the consolidated expenses, including the previous two years' expenditure towards the conduct of the general elections, were to the tune of Rs 8,966 crore. The expenditure includes acquiring EVMs, issuing voter identity cards and other expenses in the last two financial years.Since 2017-18, the government spent over Rs 5,400 crore on acquiring EVMs, a major share of poll-related expenditure booked in three years in run up to the Lok Sabha polls. The expenditure on EVMs includes procurement of ballot units, control units and VVPATs by the Election Commission.In the budget for the current year, the law ministry has allocated Rs 1,464 crore towards poll related expenditure. This includes a provision of Rs 1,000 crore for meeting liability towards the Lok Sabha elections. The allocation towards other poll-related expenditure has been Rs 349 crore in the current financial year. Together with the previous two years, the total expenditure under this head has been Rs 1,317 crore.The provisions in the budget comprise reimbursement of the central government’s share to the states and Union Territories (UTs) on the issuance of photo identity cards to the voters, procurement of EVMs and towards other normal election expenditure . The other expenditure includes state and UT governments cost of preparation and printing of electoral rolls.The general elections for 2019 were held in seven phases for 543 parliamentary constituencies, starting from April 11 till May 19. The results were declared on May 23-24 with the BJP winning the highest number of 303 seats and the NDA combine victorious on more than 350 seats.