Bigger the criminal charge, fatter the politician's wallet: Study

Source:

The Times of India

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Bigger-the-criminal-charge-fatter-the-politicians-wallet-Study/articleshow/21469219.cms

Date:

30.07.2013

City:

New Delhi

NEW DELHI: Money and muscle power not only help to win elections but also help in making politics a rather profitable affair. An analysis by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) for the last decade shows that 62,847 candidates had average assets of Rs 1.37 crore. But candidates who won elections had average assets of Rs 3.83 crore.

What's more interesting is that the wealth of legislators who faced criminal cases rose even more - to Rs 4.30 crore - and MPs and MLAs facing serious pending charges like murder, kidnapping and rape were on top of the heap with average assets of Rs 4.38 crore.

Not only do candidates who combine the cocktail of politics, criminality and crores have a higher chance of re-contesting, they also have a better record in winning elections than candidates with a clean record, says the study. The study by ADR - a think-tank working on electoral reforms - is based on self-sworn affidavits filed by candidates before the Election Commission of India.

Of the 62,847 parliamentary and assembly candidates since 2004, 11,063 or 18% have declared criminal cases against themselves. Of these, 8% or 5,253 have declared 'serious' criminal cases. Speaking on the study, ADR's Professor Trilochan Shastry said, "Criminalization is a fact which can't be denied. Money plays a big role in elections and criminalization makes it worse."

ADR also exposed the doublespeak of political parties. The analysis of criminal records of 4,181 repeat candidates shows that 1,072 of them had a criminal case the first time they contested an election and 788 had cases the second time also. This indicates that political parties gave tickets to 74% of candidates with criminal records the second time despite being aware of their dubious background.

For such candidates, re-contesting an election often resulted in an increase in wealth. Of the 4,181 candidates who contested more than one election, 3,173 showed an increase in wealth. While the average assets of re-contesting candidates went up to Rs 2.34 crore, the average assets of the 4,181 candidates with criminal record grew from Rs 1.74 crore to Rs 4.08 crore.

The assets of all re-contesting candidates have grown - to Rs 2.85 crore on average. This translates to 134% growth in declared wealth in less than five years. About 1,615 of the 4,181 candidates showed an increase of over 200%, 684 showed an increase of over 500%, while the assets of 317 candidates increased by over 1000%.

In a break-up of political parties, 75% of Shiv Sena MPs and MLAs since 2004 have declared criminal cases against them, followed by the Rashtriya Janata Dal with 46% such candidates and Janata Dal (United) with 44%. The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress were at 31% and 22%, respectively.

However, in terms of average assets, the highest have been reported by Shiromani Akali Dal(SAD) candidates at Rs 6.02 crore, followed by Telugu Desam Party (TDP) at Rs 5.61 crore.