What does a comprehensive look at the backgrounds of all 4,001 sitting members of legislative assemblies across India tell us about the state of Indian politics? Can India’s aspirations of becoming a globally respected economic and cultural power be fulfilled with the kind of politics it has?
All the candidates now comply with the conditions, following the Supreme Court of India’s decision, to file self-affidavits containing details of criminal cases, if any, against them. Of the 4,001 sitting MLAs, 1,777 i.e. 44% have criminal cases. The current Lok Sabha is also 43% Members of Parliament (MPs) have criminal cases, In 2004, the percentage was around 22%, and has now doubled. Many feel that these cases are either trivial or politically motivated. It needs to be emphasized that these are not trivial first information reports. These are cases registered after due process of investigation, filing of charge sheet, preliminary hearing of the case and formalization of charges in the court. Even if we say that these cases are imposed by rival political parties, but this shows that political parties are selectively using the law and there is a need for a change in the system. Law and order system was created by political parties and they need to change it. However, facts show that most of the cases were registered when the party to which the MLA or MP belonged was in power. So, not all cases are politically motivated.
data is eye opener
If we delve deeper and look at serious criminal cases – which carry a jail term of five years or more if convicted – there are 1,136 or 28% MLAs today. 47 MLAs have cases of murder, 181 have cases of attempt to murder, another 114 have cases related to crimes against women and 14 have rape cases. The states/UTs with the highest number of serious criminal cases are Delhi at 53%, Bihar at 59%, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Telangana at 39% and Uttar Pradesh at 38%.
No political party is free from this disease. If one focuses only on the parties that have at least 40 such MLAs, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leads with 479 MLAs with criminal cases and 337 MLAs with serious criminal cases. The next largest party, the Indian National Congress (INC), has 334 MLAs with criminal cases, and 194 with serious criminal cases.
Other parties include Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Trinamool Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, YSR Congress, Samajwadi Party, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (formerly Telangana Rashtra Samithi), Rashtriya Janata Dal, Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Biju Janata. The number of such MLAs in the party is low, but the percentage of crime is high – between 42% and 76% for criminal cases, and between 32% and 43% for serious criminal cases. Other parties like Nationalist Congress Party, Shiv Sena, Janata Dal (United) or JD(U), Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam have very few seats, and so do their number of MLAs with criminal cases. Less.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha, the BJP had 116 MPs with criminal records, the Congress 29, the DMK 10, the Trinamool Congress 9 and the JDU 13. When it comes to serious criminal cases, the BJP has 87 MPs, the Congress 19. Was an MP. , DMK 6, Trinamool Congress 4, and JDU 8. Even Union ministers are tainted. In the case of their first swearing-in during 2019, 22 out of 56 ministers had criminal cases and there were a total of 61 cases against these 22 ministers, all from the ruling party. Those with criminal records had a higher chance of winning at 15%. In comparison, it was 4.7% for those with a clean record. This shows that people with criminal records are more likely to get elected. No other country has so many people with known criminal records in its parliament or state legislatures.
net worth and election expenses
Gender representation is low with only 9% of elected women legislators. Most legislators are college graduates or above (66%). The average assets of MLAs was ₹13.63 crore, and the average assets of MLAs with criminal cases was ₹16.36 crore. Winning depends on a candidate’s wealth, with 30% of those with assets of ₹5 crore or more being elected, while only 8% of those with assets of ₹2 crore or less.
In contrast, 75% of Indian citizens reported assets of ₹8 lakh or less, and a total of 98% reported assets of ₹80 lakh or less.
Expenditure on elections is at an all-time high. Clothes, mobiles, cooking equipment, liquor and cash are distributed to lure voters, thereby violating the law. Estimates show that the expenditure in the Lok Sabha elections is more than that of the US Presidential elections. It is well known that candidates spend crores of rupees and violate the expenditure limit of ₹40 lakh for MLAs and ₹70 lakh for MPs (increased to ₹90 lakh in 2022), which is set by the Election Commission of India (ECI). There is a limit. decided in consultation with political parties. Public money is spent on promising free amenities like free water, electricity, travel and food.
The number of MLAs and MPs with criminal records has increased only because their party leaders keep allotting more tickets to such candidates. There is no such system of ticket distribution in the so-called developed countries. Candidates are selected either by a first-round primary process, as in the US, or by a more open and democratic process, as in many European countries.
In short, India has a system where there are a large number of elected representatives with serious criminal records. The chances of such people winning are more than others. Electoral laws are violated while spending money. So far the ECI has taken very little action on this. Leaders keep distributing tickets to such people. Winning is the means by which the money spent can be recovered and deposited for the next election. Media management, especially through social media, comes in the form of good governance.
Catalyst
We will see more of this in the next Lok Sabha elections in 2024. Every party is afraid that if it reforms, it will suffer. Media management can influence public perception for a while. Eventually, more and more Indians will know the truth. Perhaps this is the moment when change will happen. Only then the country’s potential will be realised. Civil action can speed up this process.
Trilochan Shastri is a professor at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore and the founding president of the Association for Democratic Reforms