(Reuters Breakingviews) - The rare Asiatic lion is no match for India's dem...
MUMBAI - The rare Asiatic lion is no match for India’s democracy. In the 2009 general election, a polling station was set up for a single voter in a wildlife sanctuary where big cats roam free. Officials go to ever-greater extremes to ensure voters in the world’s largest democracy can cast their ballots, erecting booths in snow-capped mountains and in Maoist rebel-affected areas.
Yet the integrity of the country’s noisy democracy is buckling under the weight of money. The problem has been ignored, even by India’s most anti-graft-minded leader in decades. Modi has started to shift the consensus on how the nation thinks about corruption and tamed high-level crony capitalism, but when it comes to elections, the distortions look increasingly grotesque.The 2019 poll will cost about $8.
The problems start with under-reporting against official campaign-spending caps, currently at 7 million rupees, or just under $100,000, per candidate. Acknowledging the widespread practice, the late former prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, quipped: “Every legislator starts his career with the lie of the false election return he files.”
The sheer sums required to have a viable run in Indian politics limit the candidate pool and, inevitably, encourage those who win office to seek reward, either to repay debts and favours or to build a war-chest for the next campaign.Stricter campaign-spending caps, as in the United Kingdom, are one possible thrust of reform.
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