Thursday, January 19, 2017

Why do Indians vote for 'criminal' politicians?

Political scientist Milan Vaishnav has been studying links between crime and democracy in India for many years now. His upcoming book When Crime Pays offers some intriguing insights into what is a disturbing feature of India's electoral democracy.

The good news is that the general election is a thriving, gargantuan exercise: 554 million voters queued up at more than 900,000 stations to cast their ballots in the last edition in 2014. The fortunes of 8,250 candidates representing 464 political parties were at stake.

The bad news is that a third (34%) of 543 MPs who were elected faced criminal charges, up from 30% in 2009 and 24% in 2004.

Some of the charges were of minor nature or politically motivated. But more than 20% of the new MPs faced serious charges such as attempted murder, assaulting public officials, and theft.

Now, India's general elections are not exactly a cakewalk. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. In the newly elected Indian parliament, worrying trends...
  2. Fifth of India's election candidates face criminal charges...
  3. How did Sonia Ghandi become so rich, her sister-in-law asks...
  4. Why do many India MPs have criminal records?
  5. Democracy in India, democracy in Switzerland...
  6. Jawaharlal Nehru 'would be ashamed of today's greedy, corrupt India'
  7. A "caged parrot" - Indian judge describes top police agency in coalgate scandal...

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