The Merits of Money and ‘Muscle’

Milan Vaishnav | March 13, 2014

Lawmakersandlaw‐breakers?

15%

19%

24%

30%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

2004 2009

Minorcharge Seriouscharge

Source: Vaishnav (2014)

%ofLokSabhaM

Ps

Awidespreadphenomenon

Source: Vaishnav (2014)

Keyques9ons

1.  WhydoparAesnominatecandidateswithcriminalrecords?

2.  Whydovotersvoteforthem?

3.  WhataretheresulAngpolicyimplicaAons?

1.Whydopar9esnominatecandidateswithcriminalrecords?

Becausetheywin!

Tighteningcompe99on

Plumme9ngmarginsofvictory

GrowingcompeAAon

IncreasinglycostlyelecAons

Finitepartycoffers

ParAesmoAvatedby

“rents”

ParAeswant“self‐financing”candidates

Thecostsofdemocracy

Whypar9essupplycriminals?

Increasinglycostly

elecAons

Finitepartycoffers

ParAesmoAvatedby

“rents”

PartyelitesprioriAze“self‐financing”candidates

Criminalcandidates

haveaccesstofinance

Frommoneyto“muscle”

Themeritsofmoney&“muscle”

2.Whydovotersvoteforthem?

Informa9onisnottheconstraint

Educa9onandsupportforcriminalcandidates

31.2 29.9

37.134.8

26.7

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Non‐literate Uptoprimary Uptomatric Collegeandabove

N/A

%voA

ngfo

rcand

idateswith

seriouscriminalre

cords

Note: Vaishnav (2013); N= 2,045

Canpoli9cianslearnhowyouvoted?

76.9%

10.2%4.6%

8.4%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

No/rarely MostoftheAme Always Noopinion

%ofvoters

Note: Vaishnav (2013); N= 2,045

Uncoveringsupportforcriminality

26%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

DirectQuesAon

Note: Lok Foundation survey (2014); N= 55,538

%ofrespo

nden

ts

Uncoveringsupportforcriminality

1.  WealthyCandidate

2.  PoorCandidate3.  IndependentCandidate

1.  WealthyCandidate

2.  PoorCandidate3.  IndependentCandidate4.  Candidatewithserious

criminalcharges

ControlGroup ExperimentalGroup

Uncoveringsupportforcriminality

48%

26%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

ListExperiment DirectQuesAon

Note: Lok Foundation survey (2014); N= 55,538

%ofrespo

nden

ts

Voterdemandforcriminalpoli9cians

3.Whataretheresul9ngpolicyimplica9ons?

Implica9ons

•  InformaAonaloneisnotapanacea

•  StrongerelecAonfinanceregime–  Independentauditsofpartyfinances– NewECauthoritytoactonfalse/misleadingaffidavits&disclosures

•  Needcomplementaryre‐investmentinpublicsectorinsAtuAons

SupremeCourtbacklog

Note: Vaishnav (2013) based on Supreme Court of India (2013)

Cloggedatalllevels

Note: Vaishnav (2013) based on Supreme Court of India (2013)

PoliceshorRalls

Note: Adapted from Vaishnav and Swanson (2013)