To budget election campaign messaging by constituency, multiply the voters you can lawfully reach by the number of messages per voter and the cost of each channel, then add approvals, voice and reporting costs. Start from your clean contact count, not the electorate. Rates vary by provider, so get written quotes and keep a reserve.
By Rohit Jadhav. Last reviewed 25 October 2026. This is operational guidance, not legal advice. Figures in the worked example are assumptions, not prices.
"How much should we set aside for SMS and voice?" is one of the first questions a campaign office asks, and the honest answer is that it depends on a handful of numbers you can work out yourself. This guide shows how to build an election campaign messaging budget for a single constituency. It sits beside our guide to the cost of a bulk SMS campaign for a state election, which looks at the costs from the state level, and our main guide to election campaign messaging rules. Our election campaign services page says pricing is customised by constituency size, which is the right instinct. More guides sit under Election Campaigns.
What goes into a constituency messaging budget?
Seven things: the number of contacts, messages per contact, channel mix, message length and language, approvals and certification time, reporting and support, and a reserve. Each one changes the total, and some of them change it more than people expect.
How many contacts should you budget for?
Budget for the numbers you can lawfully message, not the whole electorate. An electoral roll is not a phone-number database, so your contact file is usually a fraction of the voters. Clean it first: remove duplicates, wrong numbers and anything you cannot trace. Our guide to sending SMS to a voter list explains what a defensible file looks like.
A smaller, cleaner file also costs less per useful message. Money spent on numbers that bounce or complain is wasted twice.
How many messages per voter?
Fewer than you think. A typical campaign may send an introduction, a meeting or rally notice, a short issue message and a polling reminder, then stop before the 48-hour silence period. Four to six messages across the campaign is a sensible planning range for many contacts, with more for people who engage and fewer for those who ignore you. This is a planning assumption, not a rule. Count messages per contact, not per day.
How do SMS and voice costs differ?
SMS is charged per message part. Voice calls are charged per call or per unit of time, so a longer script costs more. Ask each provider how it bills. Our guide to bulk voice calls for rural voters explains where voice is worth the extra cost.
Language matters. Messages in Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati or other scripts use Unicode, which fits fewer characters in a part, so a long Unicode message can bill as several parts. Test every template on a phone and check the part count before you multiply.
What other costs should you plan for?
- Registration and approvals: sender, headers and templates, which need lead time. See the guide to DLT registration for political party sender IDs.
- Certification: if your election requires pre-certification of SMS and voice, allow for the time and any preparation work. A March 2026 report says the Commission's order for that round of polls covered bulk SMS and voice (newsonair.gov.in).
- Recording and scripts: voice recording in each language you need.
- Inbound lines: a helpline or IVR if you plan to take calls. See the IVR voter helpline guide.
- Reports and staff time: someone to monitor delivery, replies and opt-outs.
- Reserve: money for a correction, a re-send or an extra push.
How do you put the numbers together?
- Count your clean, lawful contacts for the constituency.
- Decide the channel mix, for example SMS for everyone and voice for selected booths.
- Multiply contacts by messages per contact for each channel.
- Adjust SMS for message parts, and voice for call length.
- Multiply by the written rate from each provider.
- Add the fixed costs: registration, recording, helpline and reporting.
- Add a reserve, and keep it separate.
Do the sum for two or three provider quotes and compare the total, not the rate. A low rate with hidden fees can cost more than a fair rate that is all-inclusive. Our guide to choosing a bulk messaging vendor for election campaigns lists the questions to ask.
A worked example (hypothetical)
An assembly campaign has 60,000 lawful contacts. This is an invented example, and the rates are assumptions, not prices. It plans five SMS per contact, which is 300,000 messages, and one recorded voice call for the 15,000 contacts in rural booths. If SMS were Rs A per message and the voice call Rs B per call, the SMS budget would be 300,000 times A, and the voice budget 15,000 times B. The team adds recording, a helpline and a reserve of 10 per cent. It then asks three vendors to quote the same plan in writing. When one vendor returns a rate with extra charges for Unicode parts, the team recalculates using the part count from its own template test. The result is a budget it can defend line by line.
Common mistakes in messaging budgets
- Budgeting from the electorate. Use the contacts you can reach.
- Ignoring Unicode parts. Regional-language messages can bill as several parts.
- Comparing rates, not totals. Ask for the full quote.
- Forgetting approval time. Registration and certification take days.
- No reserve. Corrections and re-sends happen.
- Counting sends in the silence period. Stop before the 48-hour window begins.
- Buying numbers to pad the file. It adds cost and risk.
Frequently asked questions
How do I estimate SMS cost for one constituency?
Multiply the number of lawful contacts by the messages you plan per contact, adjust for message parts, then multiply by the provider's written rate. Add registration, recording, helpline and reporting costs and a reserve.
Why do regional-language SMS cost more?
They use Unicode, which fits fewer characters in one message part, so a longer message can bill as several parts. Test your template on a phone, count the parts and use that count in your budget.
How many messages should a campaign send per voter?
There is no fixed number. Four to six across the campaign is a common planning range, spread over phases and stopped before the 48-hour silence period. Fewer, better-timed messages are usually more effective than many repeated ones.
Is voice cheaper than SMS for rural voters?
Not necessarily. Voice is usually billed per call or per unit of time, so cost rises with script length. It can still be the better choice where voters respond to a recorded local-language message. Ask providers how they bill.
Should a budget include certification?
If pre-certification applies to your election, yes, in time and effort at least. Ask the District Election Officer's office whether your scripts need it, and keep a small reserve for revisions.
Sources checked
All checked on 25 October 2026.
- TRAI, consolidated Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2018 (registered senders, templates, usage cap)
- All India Radio News: EC mandates pre-certification of political ads (21 March 2026) (news report; the Commission's own order was not found)
- Nexcomm, election campaign services (pricing described as customised by constituency size)
If you are building a budget for a constituency and want a second opinion on the numbers, you can reach our team through the contact page.