The Criminals We Elect
TheSupremeCourtdecidedlastweekthatitwouldleaveittoParliament
to legislate to prevent politicians with serious charges against them
from contesting elections. The court agreed that there was a “steady
increase in the level of criminality creeping into politics”, but insisted it
wasnotitsplacetoimposenewrules.Itdid,however,askforincreased
transparency, for candidates and parties to publish criminal histories to
enable voters to make informed choices. Already, the court, in 2013, ruled
that convicted criminals, who had been sentenced to more than two years
in prison, would not be permitted to continue as MPs or contest polls for
six years after their release. The Election Commission has told the SC
that it supports a lifetime ban for politicians convicted of certain crimes.
But the court, aware of the separation of powers, left it to Parliament to
framesuchalaw.ButisthatHouse,inwhichathirdofthemembersface
criminal charges, often ‘heinous’, motivated to effect this change?
INDEX34%
Lok Sabha MPs or 184 out
of 542 winners analysed
by the Association for
Democratic Reforms
(ADR), face criminal
charges; 98/282 members
of the BJP (35%) and 8/
Congress MPs (18%)12
Special courts sanctioned by
the government to fast track
trials this year, with a budget
of Rs 7.8 crore; 41% (1,233) of
cases transferred to these
courts, and verdicts delivered
in just 136 (11%)1,
MPs and MLAs out of
4,896 (36%) legislators
in Parliament and
state assemblies face
criminal charges in
3,045 trials, the Centre
told the Supreme Court
in March this year38
Convictions in criminal
cases involving MPs and
MLAs, as per adavit
submitted to the SC by the
government on September
11, 2018; 560 acquittals, a
conviction rate of 6.4%6
Years that an MP
candidate is barred from
contesting elections, if
convicted for a crime
punishable with 2 years in
jail and having served
their sentence13%
Chance of winning an election
for candidates with a criminal
background, an ADR analysis of
2014 Lok Sabha polls showed; 5%
for candidates with clean records15
Sitting MPs have charges of
hate speech pending against
them, and 43 MLAs, says
ADR; 10/15 MPs and 17/
MLAs are from the BJPUPFRONT
In a now infamous remark, BJP president
AMIT SHAH, speaking at Delhi’s Ramlila
Maidan, compared the “crores” of illegal
immigrants he claims have entered India,
to termites eating the country from within.
While not responding formally, Bangladeshi
government ocials have told reporters
that Shah’s rhetorical exuberance was
“inappropriate”. Of course, the imagery
Shah conjures has a long history, much
of it—at the risk of provoking the BJP’s
hyperventilating hordes on social media—
Nazi and fascist. Surely, it doesn’t need
saying that it is never a good idea to
compare human beings to insects and
parasites. The National Register of Citizens
appears in practice already to be little more
than an exercise in xenophobic catharsis.
What, beyond the fantasy of deportation,
will be done with the millions made
stateless? Presumably extermination, unlike
with termites, is not an option.“Delhi ke andar
awaidh ghuspaithiye hain...
in ghuspaithiyon ko nikaalna
chahiye ya nahin nikaalna
chahiye? Desh mein karodon
ki sankhya mein ghuspaithiye
ghuse hue hain. Deemak ki
tarah chaat gaye hain desh ke
bhavishya ko.”PULLQUOTEIllustration by TANMOY CHAKRABORTY CHANDRADEEP KUMAR