First we need to understand why this is happening. The answer is simple: the primary goal of political parties is to capture power, and they use all the means at their disposal to obtain power. Power brings money, privileges, and control of the treasury. The total budgeted expenditure of the Central government for 2019-20 is ₹27.86 lakh crore. So, the stakes are high.

Political parties in power are supposed to deliver good governance and serve the public, but
usually power becomes an end in itself. The fact that more and more freebies are being
provided nowadays clearly shows that public funds are being used by those in power to lure
voters, and are not necessarily being used for public service.

Let us look at a few important ways in which the power game is played out in India. In Delhi, hate speeches delivered by a few members of a political party did not help that party come to power. But that is not the issue — in another State, in another election, this tactic may work.

There are two factors that strengthen the growing deterioration in the quality of campaigns. One is the rapidly increasing criminalisation of politics. In 2019, the Lok Sabha had 43% MPs with a criminal record, up from about 23% in 2004. Political parties that give tickets to such candidates are directly responsible for this. The other factor is the widespread use of social media to spread fake news during an election campaign. Most of what is online consists of abuse of rivals and vilification of Opposition parties.
Money also fuels much of what we see today. It was money that was responsible for the defections in Karnataka in 2019, and in Madhya Pradesh recently. The practice of whisking away MLAs to distant resorts to prevent them from being lured away by the Opposition is unique to India. Who is elected or which party wins does not seem to matter any longer. In this game, those with money and the ability to engineer defections can always come to power.

Two factors contribute to this open use of money to topple governments. One is the total lack of transparency in the funding of political parties. Electoral bonds have made it even more difficult to trace the source of funds of political parties. The second is that political parties in power have complete hold over law and order. A corporate scamster is arrested when the money trail is discovered, but no effort is taken to trace the money trail during massive defections.
Good governance needs democracy. But today, hardly any political party in India is internally democratic. They are fully controlled by a small ruling clique. Finances are raised and used in a completely opaque way. The situation is ripe for a small group of enterprising persons to raise funds and capture power and then exercise it without accountability. The use of muscle and money power makes re-elections possible. Parties that try to win power based on a track record of good governance show mixed results.

Consequences

So, we have the root cause of the problem: the goal of political power without adequate transparency and accountability. Before we come to the remedies, we need to understand the consequences of the system we have today. All governments, whether Central or State, are in financial difficulty. More than 25% of the Central Budget is spent on paying interest on money borrowed by the government. Then there is deficit financing. The Central government has made efforts to bring it down, but has not been able to meet its targets. India’s fiscal deficit is among the highest in the developing world, with the IMF estimating it to be 7.5% of the GDP in 2019. State government finances are worse: a substantial amount is spent on salaries and pensions. Then we have the huge problem in the financial sector with banks, non-banking financial companies and ILFS going almost into liquidation. That means that a lot of the public’s money is either gone or is under great risk. Is there a link between the use of election funds and non-performing assets in banks? Other manifestations of these problems are an increasing number of government scams; corruption; growing fear and insecurity; average or poor governance, including public services provided by the government; and rising unemployment. How can we really expect good services for the taxes we pay if 43% of MPs have criminal cases against them?

The way forward

India needs a system that throws up parties and politicians whose primary goal is public service, not power. Mahatma Gandhi suggested a way: “Democracy is an impossible thing until power is shared by all… Even … a labourer, who makes it possible for you to earn your living, will have his share in self-government.”
That goal of having enlightened politicians who feel answerable to the people is perhaps distant. For now, we need democratic, accountable and transparent political parties. We need to check the use of muscle and money power. Politicians in the ruling party are rarely, if ever, arrested, and old cases against them are even withdrawn. Sometimes no action is taken against those making hate speeches. Only rival politicians are targeted. This shows that the police follows the orders of their political masters. Therefore, police reforms are required. As a quick fix for misuse of money power and engineered defections, a forensic audit by an independent agency should be mandatory when MLAs defect to other parties. As the famous Watergate dictum goes, we need to “follow the money”. That alone can restore public confidence in democracy.
Above all, we need political party reforms that make parties transparent, accountable and democratic. But we are in a logjam: those who can reform the system do not want to. Voters are no doubt getting educated rapidly, but they are not in a position to bring about inner change in the electoral and political system merely through voting. Some kind of citizen action to raise awareness may be required. Otherwise things will have to get worse before they get better.

The article was originally published on The Hindu.

I sometimes wonder whether we can ever hope to realise the aspirations of our freedom fighters, who sacrificed so much to gain independence from colonial rule. Sadly, foreign domination has been replaced in some measure by our home grown oligarchy that possesses both “money power” and “muscle power”.
– Navin B Chawla, 16th Chief Election Commissioner (2017)

The 17th Lok Sabha elections were not only a resounding victory for the BJP but a victory for money and muscle power, with 43% (233) of elected MPs having declared criminal cases against them (an increase of 44% since 2009), 88% (475) MPs having assets worth Rs. 1 crore and more, and the average assets per winner being Rs 20.93 crore. Crime and money are seen ever so strongly linked with electoral success. According to ADR analysis, a candidate facing criminal charges had 15.5% chances of winning Lok Sabha 2019 elections against a 4.7% chance for a clean candidate. Speaking of winning based on assets, there were 21% chances of winning for crorepati candidates contesting elections against a 1% chance of candidates with assets below Rs 1 crore. This is the grim reality of world’s largest elections, popularly referred as the dance of democracy. One may then ask, ‘dance to whose tune?’

According to a Centre for Media Studies (CMS) study, a whopping Rs 55,000-60,000 crore is estimated to have been spent during the 2019 Parliamentary elections, making them the costliest elections ever. 40% or Rs 24,000 crore have been spent by candidates while parties spent an estimated Rs 20,000 crore (35%). On further analysis, we see that nearly Rs 100 crore were spent per Lok Sabha constituency which, on an average, comes down to Rs 700 per voter (India has approximately 900 million eligible voters).

Throughout the election campaign, media frequently reported about instances of money being spent and distributed to bribe voters. The Election Commission of India (ECI), beginning March 26, 2019, published seizure reports highlighting the amount of cash, liquor, drug/narcotics, precious metals, freebies etc. seized during the campaigning period each day. The total seizure reported by the ECI at the end of elections was a monstrous Rs 3475.76 crore (in contrast to Rs 299.943 crore seized in 2014 elections) with drugs/narcotics topping the list at Rs 1279.90 crore followed by precious metals (gold etc.) at Rs 987.11 crore. 10%-12% voters admitted receiving cash for votes, another two-third acknowledged that voters around them were also bribed. A considerable amount of the total poll expenditure is unaccounted cash which remains outside the purview of the formal system.

Moreover, as political strategizing and campaigning continues to become more sophisticated and competitive, we see crores being spent on political advertising, especially on social media, making it difficult to monitor the indirect expenditure with precision. These elections also witnessed the highest ever anonymous funding (through Electoral Bonds) in the months preceding the general elections; March and April 2019 accounted for purchase of bonds worth Rs 3622 crore – 62% of the total bonds purchased till date and 2.5 times the amount purchased in earlier phases.

While money has definitely grown in prominence, crime is not far behind. As elections grow costlier, so does the demand for wealthy candidates, and accompanying these candidates, are often their dubious reputations blurring the lines between the politician and the criminal. Despite the Supreme Court judgment of 2018 that mandated political parties and candidates to declare the criminal antecedents of every contesting candidate in print and electronic media, at least three times after filing the nomination, 159 MPs with declared serious criminal charges (an increase of 109% since 2009) have been elected to the 17th Lok Sabha.

The reality of tainted candidates fighting for political power is expansive across party lines. This was also true for elections this year. BJP and INC fielded 175 (40%) and 164 (39%) candidates with declared criminal cases respectively, while the proportion of such candidates fielded by CPI (M) and NCP was at 58% and 50% respectively. ADR reports define constituencies which have 3 or more candidates with criminal cases contesting elections as ‘Red Alert constituencies’. Interestingly, there were 265 (49%) such constituencies during Parliamentary elections 2019.

Evidently, crime and money remain the indomitable winners that continue to enjoy stranglehold on India’s electoral politics and solicit immediate attention. In the light of the above, it is very critical for an Indian voter to reflect upon the factors behind the continuing victory of the two ‘Ms’ and how their ever increasing role damages the democratic integrity of our elections. It is important to examine how sturdily these factors will continue to dominate in future.

Our country’s systems will not be rid of their vulnerabilities until the Political system’s shortcomings are fixed first. There are institutions to enforce the law, but they are controlled politically as well – whether direct or indirect, nevertheless, Law and Order and the Criminal Justice System cannot function unless the Political system is brought under the purview of the law.
-Prof. Jagdeep Chhokar

Lok Manch – Corruption in Politics

This statement is significant in light of the supreme court judgment last year on a writ petition filed by advocate Lily Thomas and SN Shukla of Lok Prahari which stated that if a sitting MP/MLA is convicted of charges listed under Sections 8(1), 8(2) and 8(3) of the Representation of the People (RP) Act, then he/she would be disqualified and the seat would be declared vacant.

The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) analysed affidavits of the newly elected MPs with self-declared criminal cases where the charges have been framed. Of 57 MPs who have declared criminal cases where the charges have been framed, 53 have declared criminal cases under Sections 8(1) and 8(3). These criminal cases have been pending for an average of 10 years and include charges of murder, attempt to murder, electoral violations, kidnapping, dacoity, promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc.

These MPs face disqualification if convicted of these charges and their seats would be declared vacant. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) itself has 24 MPs who have declared such criminal cases and the party may lose majority if all these MPs are convicted of charges listed under Section 8(1) and 8(3). What’s more, this is not a possibility in the far future. According to an interim order in March this year, on a PIL by the Public Interest Foundation, a supreme court bench taking note of the fact that the cases pending against MPs and MLAs often drag on for years, directed that “in relation to sitting MPs and MLAs who have charges framed against them for the offences which are specified in Sections 8(1), 8(2) and 8(3) of the RP Act, the trial shall be concluded as speedily and expeditiously as may be possible and in no case later than one year from the date of the framing of charge(s).” The 16th Lok Sabha might face many vacant seats in the coming year if these MPs are convicted.

What is the implication of a possible disqualification of the MPs for the future? The greatest political exercise in the country was concluded about a month ago. The amount of time, money and energy invested into the election campaign by the parties are a testimony to the importance of the vote of each citizen.

The increase in the polling percentage in almost every constituency of the country shows that the efforts of the election commission and various other organisations, to increase voter participation have paid off.

However, this gargantuan exercise can only be complemented with cleaner candidates in the fray. The quality of governance is directly proportional to the quality of legislators we have. The disqualification of an MP while in office leads to instability in parliament and it is the taxpayer who is burdened with the extra cost of conducting by-elections for the seats that are left vacant.

While campaigning for the 2014 elections, Modi stated that “the next parliament would be cleaned by punishing the guilty” and his recent statement in the Rajya Sabha as the newly elected PM is consistent with his commitment towards weeding out criminals from politics. However, according to data collected by ADR from the affidavits of the contesting candidates, the BJP gave the ticket to 140 candidates with criminal cases – or 33% of the 428 BJP candidates had self-declared criminal cases. Further, 185 new MPs have declared pending criminal cases against themselves and 111 of them have serious criminal cases. These self-declared criminal cases have been pending against the 185 MPs for an average of seven years. Currently, there are 1,353 (33%) sitting MLAs who have declared pending criminal cases against themselves.

Clearly, the implications of this judgment have not been fathomed by the political parties fielding such candidates in the parliamentary and assembly elections. In fact, through the analysis of the data collected since the inception of National Election Watch (NEW) in 2002, it is noted that the trend of criminalisation of politics has only increased. In 2004, 25% of the elected MPs had declared criminal cases against themselves. This number increased to 30% after the 2009 Lok Sabha elections and now it is at an alarming 34%.

The landmark judgment of the Supreme Court in the Lily Thomas case is a giant leap forward to combat the malaise of crime in politics. One of the major reasons why candidates with criminal cases go on to win the elections is because political parties continue to field such candidates. During the Lok Sabha 2014 elections, 179 constituencies had three or more candidates with criminal cases. What choice does the citizen have then while casting his/her vote? This judgment ensures that the MPs and MLAs convicted of cases under Section 8 of the RP Act are not allowed to continue office. This is paramount in view of the sanctity of the position a legislative representative holds.

The PM stated in the Rajya Sabha that any MP with even an FIR registered against him/her should have his criminal cases disposed of in a year. While that seems like a task that might burden the lower and upper courts far too much to be practical, it is prudent to fast-track at least the cases against MPs where the charges that have been framed fall under Sections 8(1), 8(2) and 8(3) of the RP Act. The Supreme Court directed just that for MPs and MLAs, on March 10 in the interim order on the PIL. According to the data analysed by ADR, the cases against 53 PMs, whose charges fall under Sections 8(1) and 8(3), are liable to be disposed of in a year.

While the task at hand is monumental, let us hope that the criminal cases against these MPs are tried fairly and the state machinery is not used to withdraw cases. In the coming months we may see disqualification of some MPs, and let that be a deterrent against candidates with serious criminal cases to contest elections in the future.