The politics of money

The wind is blowing in favour of the ruling coalition in the Bihar Legislative Assembly when the last phase of the Bihar Legislative Assembly polls is drawing to a close. The assets of the JD (U)’s MLA candidates’ average have seen a three fold spike. It could even be that new and richer individuals are being put forward as candidates. Being rich is not a factor of importance in predicting election outcomes. MLAs are truly representative of their states’ progress, writes Nikhila Gill in The Indian Express.

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With campaigning for the last phase of the Bihar Legislative Assembly polls drawing to a close today, and the results due on November 24, the wind seems to be blowing strongly in favour of the ruling coalition. In addition to Nitish Kumar’s ‘SSS’ policy of sadak, shiksha, suraksha, the pro-Nitish sentiment can be attributed to the overall clean reputation of the JD (U) government. The fact that the JD (U)’s MLA candidates’ average assets have spiked from Rs 19,71,998 in 2005 to Rs 64,60,088 in 2010, a three-fold increase, does make this claim look a bit hollow. But it doesn’t necessarily imply corruption; a possible explanation for this is that new and richer individuals are being put forward as candidates.

Interestingly, the rise in asset values isn’t restricted to Bihar, with the average assets of MLAs seeing an upward swing in almost all states across India. The hikes range from 141% in Chhattisgarh and 283% in Rajasthan (the states that bring up the lower order) to 1,000% in Haryana and 1,170% in Andhra Pradesh between 2003 and 2009. Not surprisingly, Andhra Pradesh is home to the richest MLAs in the country, with average declared assets worth Rs 22.6 crore per candidate.

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Back at the state level, a closer examination reveals the performance of individual states and parties. Haryana has some of the richest MLAs in the country (save for Andhra Pradhesh), whose average assets range from Rs 3.87 crore (for the Congress) to Rs 16.28 crore (for independent candidates). This not surprising, given that Haryana has one of the highest per capita incomes in India (excluding small states and Union territories like Goa and Delhi) and, on average, its MLAs declared assets worth Rs 7.74 crore in the 2009 assembly elections.

Chhattisgarh, where MLA wealth has gone up on average by about two times, from Rs 44 lakh to 1.08 crore between 2003 and 2008, still has one of the lowest average MLA asset bases. This is despite the fact that the state has been one of the fastest growers in GSDP terms, averaging about 20% in the same period. In contrast, although Madhya Pradesh’s per capita GDP is about a fourth less than Chhattisgarh’s and its GSDP growth rate 11.6%, its MLAs are 1.5 times richer than those from Chhattisgarh. Similarly, the assets of the MLAs of Uttar Pradesh—a state notorious for lawlessness and slow growth, with one of the lowest per capita incomes—weigh in at Rs 1.46 crore, about 1.5 times that of Chhattisgarh.

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So is being rich a factor of importance in predicting election outcomes? It appears not. In Karnataka, the richer Congress-JD(S) alliance was voted out in the 2008 assembly elections. There are other instances of richer candidates being defeated—in Rajasthan, the BJP lost out to the Congress even though its MLAs were 1.8 times as rich as those belonging to the Congress. In Andhra Pradesh, the TDP candidates were almost 10 times richer than the Congress candidates and still lost out. So money cannot buy all; it’s parties that matter, not their assets.

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So, is it fair to say that MLAs are truly representative of their states’ progress? The answer, contrary to popular perception, is yes. For the most part, anyway. The same, however, doesn’t hold true for MPs. By and large, the poorer the state, the richer the MP and vice-versa.

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How political parties raise funds, officially

The Indian National Congress is going to fund itself by building a corpus, which is the largest one among the Indian political parties. Congress had generated funds through selling coupons when other political parties relied on voluntary donations. Other major sources of income for the parties analysed for last two years were "Levy" for CPM and receipt from sale of coupons for NCP, reports The Indian Express.

The Indian National Congress has taken the next step in politics by moving away from the old era of donations to fund its activities to one of selling coupons to build up a corpus – the largest one among parties in India.

Congress sold coupons worth Rs 600 crore to generate funds during 2007-09 while most of the other political parties were dependent on voluntary donations for fund raising.

The oldest political party, Congress, generated Rs 598.4 crore during 2007-08 and 2008-09 through the sale of coupons while it received donations of Rs 72 crore. The party also generated Rs 38 crore as interest during the period, reveal income tax returns filed by the party.

Funds for Bharatiya Janta Party were mainly sourced from voluntary donations during the period which amounted to Rs 297.7 crore while interest of Rs 21.29 crore and "Ajiwan Sahyog Nidhi" were the other sources.

Bahujan Samaj Party also relied on "contributions" of Rs 202.94 crore while membership and interest worth Rs 43.20 crore and Rs 5.18 crore contributed respectively, the data received by Association of Democratic Reforms, a voluntary group, through RTI revealed.

Other major sources of income for the parties analysed for 2007-08 and 2008-09 were "Levy" for CPM Rs 46 crore and receipt from sale of coupons for NCP Rs 50 crore, it shows.

Major expenditure of the Congress party during the period was incurred on election -- Rs 215 crore -- while on publicity it spent early Rs 58 crore. The party also distributed aid worth Rs 56 crore to "others".

The BJP spent maximum funds worth Rs 89.16 crore on advertising and publicity while the BSP made purchases worth Rs 85 crore on immovable properties.

During the period, Congress has declared the "maximum aggregate income" of Rs 718 crore followed by BJP which has declared assets worth Rs 344 crore and BSP Rs 252 crore, it said.

Mayawati's BSP has shown maximum growth in terms of total income of Rs 69.74 crore in 2007-08 to Rs 182 crore in 2008-09 which is nearly 161 per cent while NCP shows a growth of nearly 130 per cent followed by Congress which shows an increment of 125 per cent.

Communist Party of India is the only party whose income dipped during the period. From Rs 1.24 crore in 2007-08, the income of the party has dipped to Rs 1.16 crore in 2008-09 which is a decline of 6.45 per cent.

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Gujarat: Court directs mock e-voting before actual polls

The Gujarat court directs mock e-voting before the actual poll. It is to ensure that the process of online voting is 100 per cent full-proof.The Congress leaders have claimed in their PIL that e-voting system to be implemented through recent amendments in the BPMC Act is in violation of fundamental rights granted by the Constitution, reports The Times Of India.

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AHMEDABAD: In connection with introduction of e-voting or online voting system during coming civic body elections, Gujarat High Court has advised the state government to go for a trial mock election before actual election to ensure that the process of online voting is 100 per cent full-proof.

When the hearing came up on the PIL filed by Congressmen raising doubts on efficacy of the new mode of casting vote, a bench headed by Chief Justice SJ Mukhopadhaya observed that the experimentation should not be done during the election process. In case of any trouble in casting vote through internet or mobile phone, the entire exercise of conducting election will suffer. Therefore, if the authorities want to experiment to see that the system functions in proper manner, it has to be much before the actual election.

The Congress leaders have claimed in their PIL that e-voting system to be implemented through recent amendments in the BPMC Act is in violation of fundamental rights granted by the Constitution. Hence the authorities should be restricted from allowing citizens to cast their votes online through mobile or internet.

The PIL has also claimed that online voting system could infringe the element of secrecy maintained in electoral process. It has been contended that free and fair elections as well as secrecy of ballet is granted as fundamental rights in Article 19(1)(g) of the constitution.

However, in the registration process of e-voter, a person is given biometric card and a password. While casting a vote, there will be no control of election commission, and there are chances of coercion and influencing the voters, the petition stated.

The petition has also contended that there is no provision to verify the voting done online. Moreover, secrecy cannot be maintained in e-voting as the services of a private service provider will be availed in this process. There is also no safety contemplated in e-voting so far as identity of voter is concerned, because the voter was expected to cast his vote from either home or cyber cafe or from mobile. In this situation, it was difficult to find out true identity of the voter and there were chances of dummy voters participating in electoral process.

Further hearing on this issue has been kept on August 27.

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Congress richest party, BSP biggest rise in assets

The Right to Information (RTI) has disclosed that all political parties are in excellent financial health.The political parties have disclosed the details of assets and liabilities following orders from the Central Information Commission Congress is the richest party, and BSP shows the biggest rise in assets. The regional parties are not far behind, reports The Times Of India.

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NEW DELHI: Even as Parliament appears split over the contentious issue of MP's salary hike and the country reels under inflation, the data gathered from Right to Information (RTI) has disclosed that all political parties are in the pink of financial health.

Congress -- that has now been in power for the past six years-- has the highest income Rs 497 crore as on March 31, 2009, and its aggregate income has increased to Rs 1,518 crore between 2002 and 2009, while its assets have also increased by 42%.

BJP and BSP have declared their income for 2009-10 at Rs 220 crore and Rs 182 crore, respectively.

With national parties making a fortune, how can regional parties be far behind?

The maximum growth rate in total assets from 2002-03 to 2009-10 has been shown by BSP (59%) followed by NCP (51%) and SP (44%).

The analysis was arrived at from income tax returns, and assessment orders of political parties accessed by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) under the RTI Act.

Parties have disclosed details of assets and liabilities following orders from the Central Information Commission (CIC).

Among the other parties, the income shown for 2009-10 by CPI is Rs 1 crore, RJD (Rs 4 crore), SP (Rs 39 crore), NCP (Rs 40 crore) and CPM (Rs 63 crore).

While Congress had the maximum aggregate income between 2002-03 and 2009-10, BJP came in second with an aggregate income of Rs 754 crore and BSP with Rs 358 crore.

The aggregate income for the same period for Rs 7 crore for CPI, Rs 15 crore for RJD, NCP (Rs 109 crore), SP (Rs 263 crore) and CPM (Rs 339 crore).

Another indicator of the growing wealth of parties is the trend of acquiring assets.

While BSP has been the most active in acquiring assets -- at Rs 286 crore --

Congress remains on top of the charts on this count as well.

BJP has Rs 261 crore in assets followed by CPM (Rs 185 crore), SP (Rs 178 crore) and NCP at Rs 32 crore.

As on March 31, 2009, the maximum capital fund was shown by Congress (Rs 549 crore), followed by BSP (Rs 286 crore) and BJP (Rs 246 crore).

RJD showed capital fund of about Rs 60 lakh, CPM of Rs 185 crore and SP (Rs 178 crore).

Congress has also shown the maximum amount of bank borrowing (Rs 49 crore) followed by BJP (Rs 13 crore).

In a statement, ADR and National Election Watch emphasised the need for political parties to have transparency in their accounts and funding.

"All advanced democracies of the world have detailed laws defining how the political parties should function. In India, several commission like the Law Commission of India, National Commission for the Review of the Working of Constitution and the Election Commission have recommended bringing in a law to this effect. Unfortunately, the law makers have refused to budge," the statement said.

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Jharkhand MLAs bargain a price for voting in Rajya Sabha election

A joint sting operation conducted by CNN-IBN and Cobrapost exposed the sale of votes for an amount as little as 50 Lakhs. The Congress has issues notice to all the MLA's who were caught in the camera. Political parties have demanded strong action against all the MLA's who were exposed.

This article was published in IBN politics on August 3rd 2010.

A day after a joint sting operation conducted by CNN-IBN and Cobrapost exposed Jharkhand MLAs who were willing to take as little as Rs 50 lakh to sell their votes in Rajya Sabha polls, the Congress has issued show-cause notice to its MLAs caught on camera.

All India Congress Committee member Keshav Rao, who is also in-charge of Jharkhand has written letters to its MLAs - Rajesh Ranjan, Sawan Lakda and Yogendra Sao - who were shown brokering a deal, in the sting operation.

Rao had earlier assured that the Congress would take action on the issue.

On Monday, within hours of airing the sting operation, political parties demanded strong action against those exposed by the operation.

Senior CPI-M leader and Politburo member Brinda Karat said it was sickening to see elected MLAs of national parties stooping so low for money.

Member of Parliament from Jharkhand and senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha, whose party colleague Uma Shankar Akela was implicated in the action, too demanded action from the ethics commmittee of the Rajya Sabha.

"It is completely illegal to buy your way through the Rajya Sabha. I think the BJP leadership in the state and at the centre should ask him to explain his remarks," Sinha told CNN-IBN.

Besides political parties, India's Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi has also assured action against those involved. Quraishi said that the Election Commission will seek legal opinion on the way forward.