The Politics of Corruption

The Politics of Corruption

A lot has been said and written about Durga and how politicians have conspired to illegally suspend her and continue to make statements which not only undermines her as an officer but also the entire IAS and the bureaucracy. Why has there been such a response from our politicians? Most people say that if Durga was being a roadblock in illegal mining, why couldn’t they just transfer her? What was the need to suspend a young officer?

The answer that comes to one’s mind is that the stakes have become big. So big that the mafia can think of attacking and killing IPS and IAS officers. Only last year IPS officer Narendra Kumar was killed in Madhya Pradesh when he tried to stop illegal mining. A few days back Yunus Khan, an IAS officer and Durga’s batch mate was attacked. The clout and might of the mining mafia is no less than those indulging in organized crime. The role played by the mining mafia in states like Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh is well known.

Illegal mining is an easy source of funds that politicians need. There is a huge demand of sand for the booming construction sector. The laws and rules regarding auction of natural resources like sand are not very transparent. There are no correct estimates of the quantity and value of the sand available. The administration and police lack the men and equipment required to effectively control it and then there is nexus between mafia, politicians, police and administrative functionaries that allows the trade to thrive. Whenever a young officer gets to know of what’s going on, attempts are made to first buy him and then silence him normally through transfers and lately through suspensions and attacks.

So why are the politicians hand in glove with the criminals and the mafia? Obviously money plays a big role. And why do politicians need money. Greed is a major reason. But can they manage without money? From whatever I have seen and learnt about the business of being in politics, I would say it’s virtually impossible to survive with no money to splurge. A few days back a political leader in Maharashtra was quoted about the crores one needs to spend in Assembly and Parliament elections. There was a furor, but what was not said that the politician concerned was just being honest – about an open secret. Almost 80-90% constituencies in the country will have someone spending that kind of money. In many, there are 4-5 candidates who each spend almost 10 times what is allowed as per Election Commission guidelines. Even for Gram Panchayat elections, people spend a fortune.

And who are these people who spend so much. They are not in politics for the love of the country. Today, either you inherit politics and constituencies or you are there for want of any better option. Most professionals shun politics. We are not like the politicians of pre independence era – Gandhi, Nehru and Bose – who quit the best of their jobs and careers and joined politics for the love of freedom and the nation. So those who join today – join it as a vocation, as a profession, as a business. And it’s a business that requires heavy investments and time. Most politicians have 24X7 working hours. They have to be accessible and available all the time. And very often, they need to spend money for their supporters, who visit them in State and National capitals, stay with them, eat at their homes and even take money for their travel. One Minister had mentioned once that almost 50 people eat at his place regularly and his daily expenses runs into lakhs of rupees.

Then there are a lot of risks associated with the investments politicians make for elections. We don’t have primaries or real inner party democracy. So even to get tickets to contest election, one has to spend a lot of money – from lobbying for tickets to actually buying tickets by contributing to the party fund kitty. Even if one is able to get a ticket, and spend the crores required for the campaign, the chances of winning the elections is never more than 30-40% even for candidates of recognized parties. If you are lucky enough to win elections, it’s not necessary that the party you belong to forms the Government. Even if you are lucky to be a ruling party MLA or MP, the chances that you will get a berth in the Ministry are not guaranteed. If you are lucky to be a Minister, the only opportunity to recover the investments you make will be if you have a lucrative portfolio and you have a bureaucrat who is willing to play ball.

Thus the way risks are in built in a political investment, the minimum returns that one will try to seek, if given an opportunity will be around 10 times the investment to enable one to be in a position to contest next elections. Given this one is not surprised on the high rate of returns witnessed in the assets of most politicians as per the affidavits filed with Election Commission. Thus the kind of democracy we have has the element of corruption in built in it. It’s very difficult for politicians in power to avoid the temptations of making money. And to help them and guide them there are always businessmen, bureaucrats, lawyers and other middlemen readily available.

Another dimension of this which leads to favoritism and nepotism is the huge number of supporters a politician needs to manage his elections. Whether it’s for election campaigns or just being polling agents, politicians in any constituency have hundreds of supporters who have families to support and are always seeking jobs, contracts, gun licenses and favors for their friends and family. No politician worth his salt can say no to them. I remember an anecdote with a State minister who had told me that people only come to them for work that is beyond rules. And they can’t say no to them as they are seeking votes from the very same people.

Does this mean that there is no solution and we as a country are doomed forever and will continue to be plagued with corruption, nepotism and favoritism? The argument put forward by politicians as mentioned above is only partly true. Very often those in politics are happy to live with the present system as it ensures politics to be an old boys club – difficult for new entrants to break in. How then we make this happen? Most people will think of simplistic solutions like getting rid of politicians. But that is only wishful thinking. Politicians and Political parties do have a role to play in a democracy. We do need them. How do we cleanse them? How do we ensure that people with principles, ethics and morals join politics? How do we make it rewarding without having to adopt underhand techniques.

The solution for this will not come from heaven. It exists in our systems and laws. First and foremost we need to eliminate money power from elections as till the time, we spend crores for elections, it will be impossible to get out of the vicious circle of looting money and spending in elections. A lot has been done to monitor the expenses of candidates during elections by the Election Commission. However its general knowledge that most candidates violate the norms and get away with it. In order to make it effective, what can be done is to eliminate the possibilities of use of money by candidates and have state funding of elections. All candidates can be given the option of having 10 public meetings at locations of their choice. They can also deploy 10 campaign teams which will be provided with vehicles that could do a maximum of 200 kms a day. The expenses on these public meeting and campaigns will be borne by the Government and the candidates will themselves not be required to spend any amount.

In order to limit the number of candidates, each candidate can be required to have a security deposit of say Rs 10 lakhs which will be refunded if he gets 5% of the votes polled. This will discourage non serious candidates and keep the expenses in control. Also those candidates who poll less than 5% of votes polled will not be eligible to contest in the following two elections. Any candidate who incurs any expenses beyond this will be debarred from contesting in future and there could be penal provisions also. This would allow professionals and those who can be good politicians but do not have resources to join the fray. The numbers above are just indicative and once the principle is accepted, can be suitably modified depending on the size of the constituencies concerned.

Representation of People’s Act allows Political Parties to accept donations and only those donations which are more than Rs 20,000 need to be disclosed. This can be amended by requiring all parties to disclose contributions of all amounts so that every penny is accounted for, both in the books of the donors as well as the political parties. Details of assets and liabilities of all contesting candidates – both at the party level as well for the general elections needs to be made public. The expenses some of the political parties incur on their top leaders is phenomenal and there is no reason that citizens should not know of the same. The recent move to block the Chief Information Commissioner’s orders of applicability of Right to Information Act on political parties is a very regressive step.

Apart from money, the other factor that affects elections is the policy of inheriting constituencies that makes it virtually impossible for new candidates to break in. Representation of People’s Act 1951 needs to incorporate features that will make inner party democracy a must. At least two years before each general election, Election Commission needs to conduct inner party elections for political parties, like the primaries in the US that allows members of recognized parties to elect their candidates for the general elections. These should be done in the most transparent manner with limits on expenses and campaigns strictly monitored by the Commission. Thus the real elections will have serious candidates who actually represent the party rather than being imposed by one Supreme Leader or organization as is the norm in most of our political parties.

The other issue to tackle is criminals. Criminals of any kind, once convicted, should be barred from the electoral process of the parties as well as general elections. Any criminal case against elected legislators need to be finalized within a maximum period of 2 years and if the person is convicted he should lose his seat immediately. Again the move to thwart the recent Supreme Court orders on convicted politicians is evidence of the lack of political will to eliminate criminals from politics.

Another change that we need to have to encourage more people who aspire to join politics is to limit the number of terms to be a Chief Minister or Prime Minister to two. So any person can occupy these positions for a maximum of 10 years only.

The above if implemented can mean a lot for improving our electoral systems. There is a need to take these steps as that will enable us to have the best of people joining politics and will be like the Second Freedom movement that will truly help us aspire the dream enshrined in our Constitution of being a true republic.

Abhishek Singh

(Views are Personal)