Money Power in Election in India vis-à-vis Electoral Reforms to curb the menace
- Part 1 -

Yumnam Premananda Singh *

– A case study in 2012 Election of U.P., Uttarakhand, Goa, Punjab and Manipur

Introductory Remarks:

It is widely believed that in many cases successfully contesting an election costs a significant amount of money that is often much greater than the prescribed limits. The excessive use of "money power" in the electoral process ultimately causes severe distortions in the basic functioning of democracy in the country. This also resulted in the lack of transparency, widespread corruption, and the pervasiveness of the so-called 'black money'.

At a more fundamental level, if citizens do not have faith in the way our elected representatives are chosen, there is a danger to the very idea of democracy itself. Widely held views among the public with regard to criminalization of politics, the use of money power in the securing votes, the paid-news disease are some of the issues that are enlarging the trust deficit with regard to our elections. This needs to be stemmed at the earliest and in a clear and transparent manner to regain the trust of the citizens in our democratic process. The holistic treatment is need of the hour and to fight this threat to our democracy is collective responsibility of all.

The Consultation Paper to the NCRWC, 2001 clarifies that "the campaign expenditure by candidates is in the range of about twenty to thirty times the legal limits" and the high cost of elections "creates a high degree of compulsion for corruption in the public arena", that "sources of some of the election funds are believed to be unaccounted criminal money in return for protection, unaccounted funds from business groups who expect a high return on this investment, kickbacks or commissions on contracts, etc." and that "Electoral compulsions for funds become the foundation of the whole super structure of corruption".

The Vohra Committee Report, 1993 also clearly observed that "Over time, the money power thus acquired is used for building up contacts with bureaucrats and politician and expansion of activities with impunity. The money power is used to develop a network of muscle-power which is also used by the politician during elections… The nexus between the criminal gangs, police, bureaucracy and politicians has come out clearly in various parts of the country".

Now- a-days money is the only means to contest and win the election. Instead of doing social work and dedication, the prospective candidate needs to acquire/accumulate huge amount of money by any means and buy votes and win the election. Amount of money in their disposal and chances of winning election are directly proportionate to each other.

First crorepati then election is the mantra of modern democratic India.

This article will highlight money power in winning the election in the last 2012 Assembly Election in 5 states and it will not try to focus on the hypothetical and theoretical premises and at last the article will articulate some important remedial measures to save the democracy in India.

This article will articulate power of money to win the election in India. Article is divided into 3 parts viz. Part I – Analysis of Financial Details of the newly elected MLAs of five Assemblies which hold election in 2012; Part II – Comparative study of the financial details of these MLAs; Part III – Power of Money in actual winning the election in these five Assemblies; and lastly in Part IV – Recommendations to curb this menace of Money Power in election as measures for electoral reforms. Most of the data used in this Article are collected from Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR)'s website and the author owed special regards to it.

I
Analysis of Financial details of MLAs of the Goa Assembly Elections 2012

Goa Legislative Assembly consists of 40 MLAs. Out of all 40 MLAs from Goa 2012 Assembly Elections, 37(93%) are crorepatis as compared to 55% crorepati MLAs in Goa 2007 Assembly Election. The following table shows party wise break up of crorepatis and it also highlighted elections are fought among cropaties and money only matter in election.

Party	Total MLAs	Crorepatis	%
BJP	21	18	86%
INC	9	9	100%
IND	5	5	100%
MGP	3	3	100%
GVP	2	2	100%
TOTAL	40	37	93%

Table showing party wise crorepati position in Goa Legislative Assembly 2012[1]

The MLA with maximum assets in Goa is Pratapsingh Rane of INC from Poriem constituency with Rs. 25.87 crores, followed by Vijay Sardesai an Independent MLA from Fatorda constituency with Rs. 25.21 crores and Jennifer Monserrate of INC from Taleigao constituency with assets worth Rs. 23.07 crores. The Average asset for a MLA form Goa is 7.28 crores. Only 3 MLAs have declared assets of less than 1 crores.

Out of these 49 MLAs a total of 12 (30%) MLAs declared liabilities of Rs. 1 crore and above. Among major parties, the average asset per candidate for INC is Rs. 13.41 crores, for MGP is Rs. 6.78 crores, for BJP is Rs. 4.94 crores, for GVP is Rs. 4.43 crores and for IND it is Rs. 7.43 crores.

Regarding Income Tax Returns (ITR), all MLA except Vishnu Wagh of BJP from St. Andre constituency not filed Income Tax Return. All the newly elected MLAs have declared their PAN details.

Analysis of Financial details of MLAs of the Uttarakhand Assembly Elections 2012

Uttarakhand Assembly consists of 70 MLAs. A total of 32 out of 70 MLAs i.e. 46% are cropatis upward jump from 16% in 2007. The following table shows party wise position of cropatis in 2012 Assembly of the State. The table below clearly shows 50% of MLAs from INC are crorepati while around 39% of BJP MLAs are crorepati, 67% of BSP MLAs are crorepati.

Party	Total MLAs Analyzed	Crorepati MLAs	% OF Crorepati MLAs
INC	32	16	50%
BJP	31	12	39%
BSP	3	2	67%
IND	3	1	33%
UKD(P)	1	1	100%
OTHER	0	0	0%
Total	70	32	46%

Table: Crorepati MLAs – Party wise break up[2]

To be continued....

---

* Yumnam Premananda Singh wrote this article for e-pao.net
The writer is Assistant Professor of Law, Govt. Mizoram Law College, Aizawl and can be reached at lawprem(aT)yahoo(dot)com
This article was posted on September 21 2015.

---