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| Moneybags, criminals win more elections | | |
SANT KUMAR SHARMA
Jammu, October 30
Money makes the mare go. Yes, it does and electoral politics is getting more and more a game to be played, and won, by the rich.
If you want to contest elections or join politics, ask yourself the following questions.
Do you have money?
Do you have lots of money?
Do you have more than lots of money?
Well, the chances of winning an election to any legislature, whether it is to the Lok Sabha or state assemblies, are directly proportional to the money the candidates have. The Rajya Sabha anyway plays host to lots of very, very rich persons in India.
An analysis of election results from Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh clearly shows that more money you have, the better your chances of winning.
The elections for the state assemblies of the three states mentioned above were held two weeks ago i.e. on October 13. National Election Watch (NEW), a non-governmental organization, has analysed the results in detail and found that money is perhaps the most important ingredient in winning elections.
The NEW analysis also shows that criminal cases against candidates notwithstanding, they could win if they had enough money.It found that at least 50 per cent newly-elected legislators (MLAs) in Maharashtra, 17 per cent in Haryana and five per cent in Arunachal Pradesh have pending criminal charges against them.
In 2004, the percentage of MLAs with criminal records in Maharashtra was 45 per cent.
The information regarding the criminal cases was provided by the honourable legislators themselves in self-sworn affidavits.
In Maharashtra, MLAs are facing grave charges including 15 cases related to murder, 22 related to dacoity and kidnapping, six of extortion.
Besides, overall more than 50 per cent of the MLAs in all the three states are crorepatis. A high percentage of candidates who had declared their assets to be over Rs 10 crore have emerged victorious.
Far fewer candidates with lower levels of assets and incomes could emerge winner in the race for the coveted and respected tag of being a legislator.
Besides, it has emerged that despite claims to the contrary, empowerment of women does not appear to be a priority for any party, including the ruling Congress headed by Sonia Gandhi. Very few women candidates were fielded by the parties and fewer even won, according to the analysis.This is true for all the three states of Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh.
Eminent personalities like former Punjab Police chief, Mr Julio Ribeiro, Professor Jagdeep Chhokar, Dr Nani Bath and others are associated with NEW. They have vowed to continue their efforts to bring out into open such eye-opening analysis in future as well.
NEW is committed to promoting electoral reforms and works closely with Association for Democratic Rights (ADR), a nationwide campaign of over 1,200 NGOs and citizen-led organizations.
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