In the Indian election scenario, a tainted candidate with piles of cash has far higher chances of winning an election than a contender sans money power. A study on Indian voters' response to candidates with criminal charges against them, during the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, found that the tainted candidates' vote share was low, yet one-fourth of the total present LS strength comprises of candidates with criminal cases pending against them.
Professor Bhaskar Datta and Poonam Gupta of the University of Warwick, United Kingdom, who conducted the study, stated that most tainted candidates were fielded by recognized national and state political parties while their number was negligible among Independents or unrecognised parties. Prof Datta said their findings were: criminal charges reduce vote share; candidate wealth has positive impact on vote share and wealth is an additional benefit for tainted candidates since they can marginalise their negative impact through money power in the campaign.
Out of 1125 candidates facing criminal cases ranging from 1 to 10, 156 have won. Many members face serious charges including murder. Other winners have lesser charges, some politically motivated, Prof Datta said. Most tainted candidates were found in Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Kerala.
Prof Datta was delivering a lecture on “Do Indian voters punish politicians with criminal records: Evidence from the 2009 LS elections,” organised by the Centre for Economic and Social Studies. The findings: Tainted candidates with more wealth tend to win, since they are willing to spend more on the campaign and get elected. Interesting point: 10 candidates with 10 criminal charges each won the polls out of 44 candidates with similar charges in the fray.