In 2004, nearly 21 women were killed in a stampede in Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh. The reason was the news that free saris were being distributed. The then prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s close aide decided to celebrate his birthday by offering free saris, the traditional attire of Indian women, a week before the Lok Sabha (House of the People) elections. By evening, the place was littered with footwear, while the saris were undistributed. The opposition blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for bribing the voters, while the BJP maintained that it was only a celebration.

Things don’t seem to have got any better even now. Bribing the voters with blankets, food, money, liquor, and clothes is not new to Indian politics.

With the 2009 Lok Sabha elections announced in April this year, the media is abuzz with reports that the BJP has plans to offer direct to home (DTH) connections to some of the households with a minimum of five voters in urban constituencies in Bangalore. This is reported as an effort to garner the youth vote. Liquor worth $5,818 (Rs 3 lakh) was seized in Karnataka in the last three days. This is following the Election Commission’s (EC’s) offer of incentives to informers about illegal transport or distribution of liquor.

The Election Commission lists out corrupt practices to entice voters. Offering or accepting money or any other gratification either to vote for or not to vote for a particular candidate, inducement by way of liquor, feast, and gifts to vote for or not to vote for a particular candidate, are some of them. Offer of free conveyance to any elector to go to or from any polling station is also considered as a corrupt practice.

Last year, in Meghalaya, the BJP alleged that Congress offered money for votes as an amount of $46,168 (Rs 23.8 lakh) was found in the hotel room of AICC secretary and accountant. However, Congress claimed that the money was for the election expenditure. The BJP wanted the EC to monitor the expenditure of the Congress candidates.

In 2004, the EC sent a notice to Lalu Prasad asking why action should not be taken against his party Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) for malpractices during elections. While he admitted to offering $8 (Rs 400) to four women in a village, he denied that he had bribed the voters. He said he had given the money instead of offering them sweets. The money was distributed before a large gathering.

Offers of television sets, stoves, rice, bicycles, and umbrellas were made often publicly in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam (DMK) party promised free TV sets and cooking stoves for its voters during the 2006 Assembly elections. The party projected the “gift” in a different angle—the television sets were for the women’s recreation and general knowledge. The DMK chief M Karunanidhi also promised to offer rice at a subsidised rate. Not to be left behind, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) offered free cycles for students.

Last year, the EC sent notice to Karunanidhi’s son M K Stalin, who was caught in camera offering bribes during election campaigns.  The party maintained that it was customary to offer money to parents after roadside christening ceremonies. However, AIADMK had no chance to rejoice, as it also received EC notice for bribery.

As early as 2002, The Janata Dal party filed a complaint with the EC that the Congress party had bribed the voters in the Kanakapura Lok Sabha constituency by distributing predated ration cards. The party alleged that the ration cards were being delivered at their doorstep to woo the voters.

In 2007, in the Madurai West Assembly constituency, voters were allegedly offered money to vote. Some of the candidates wanted the election to be postponed due to this. Special patrol teams comprising police and revenue officials were deployed to check corruption.

During the Jammu and Kashmir elections last year, three people were arrested for trying to buy voters. Last year, senior Congress leader Mahendra Karma, contesting from Chhattisgarh for the state elections was accused of offering money for votes. However, Karma denied the charges claiming that he was paying people hired for election work.

According to a study by the Centre for Media Studies, nearly 25 per cent of the voters in Delhi were offered money for vote. In the country, nearly 37 per cent of the people below the poverty line accepted money for vote while 22 percent of the voters in the general category accepted money. Among states, in the general category, Karnataka emerged the top most with 47 per cent followed by Tamil Nadu with 34 per cent. 

Places under the BJP and its allies recorded the highest number of cases while states ruled by the Congress-led alliance fared slightly better, said the report. The lowest figure of 13 per cent was recorded in places such as Kerala and west Bengal, ruled by Left parties. 

In spite of the EC’s strict guidelines, the parties are continuously trying to looking safer alternatives to woo the voters, which do not come under the SC’s radar. While it is obvious that such candidates or parties cannot be trusted to be committed leaders, the voters seem to ignore the fact conveniently for shorter gains. X

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