Crorepati Politicians: A Worrying Trend

By Deepak Parvatiyar

October 27, 2014

Statistics reveal that over 88 and 83 per cent members elected respectively to the Maharashtra and Haryana state assemblies are millionaires. In Maharashtra, 253 of the 288 MLAs are millionaires and 80 of them have assets exceeding Rs 10 crore. While five of the 10 richest MLAs are from the Bharatiya Janata Party in Maharashtra, other parties were not very far behind in roping in millionaire candidates.

Similarly, 70 MLAs of the 90-member state assembly in Haryana are millionaires. Of these, 40 belong to the BJP and 30 to its rival political groups.

A research by Haryana Election Watch (HEW) and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) shows that the average assets of Haryana  legislators at Rs.12.97 crore are almost double than that of the members of the previous House whose average assets stood at Rs 6.71 crore (Even in the previous Haryana House, 65 of the 90 legislators were crorepatis!). Similarly in Maharashtra, the average assets of MLAs rose to Rs 10.87 crore in the newly elected House, from Rs 4.99 crore in the 2009 Assembly elections.

Rich Legislators: Growing Phenomenon

The statistics do suggest a certain preference by political parties for moneyed candidates. To ask why seems redundant. Isn’t this a Hobson’s choice for the political parties to field the rich and affluent in the fray? After all, didn’t social reformist Anna Hazare remind long ago that millions of rupees are required to contest today’s elections?

This trend of rich politicians entering the fray and winning is all pervasive. Let’s have quick look –101 out of the 117 legislators in Punjab Assembly are millionaires. The 68-member Himachal Pradesh House has 44 millionaire MLAs. The list goes on. (Consider the fact that in the last general elections, assets of just 10 richest candidates from Maharashtra, irrespective of political party affiliations, was almost Rs 1,000 crore!).

Haryana, Maharashtra and even Karnataka are progressive states with comparatively higher per capita income. Yet, even a ‘backward’ Uttar Pradesh has as may as 127 crorepati legislatures in the state Assembly.

Politics Begets Money

There is, indeed, yet another dimension to the growing lure of politics for the moneyed people. That is – politics begets money! In the process, even the political parties reap rich harvest because of the rich legislators’ financial acumen. Studies by ADR in Haryana did show the Legislative parties in Haryana making quantum jump financially between 2009 and 2014.

Any guess therefore that why the ruling Congress led the pack with Rs.8.49 crore growth, followed by the main Opposition, the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) with  Rs.8.22 crore growth during the period? The BJP – a political lightweight in the state with just four MLAs, showed  Rs.2.13 crore financial growth during the period.

Apparently the argument that politics is best manure to grow money does hold well in Indian context. Consider this – There had been a phenomenal rise in the assets of Venod Sharma, a ‘businessman’ politician of Haryana from Rs.9 crore in 2005 to Rs 140 crore in 2014 – a period when he was a ruling party legislator!  

Sharma’s is not an isolated case and this has been a pan-India trend. While Sharma got defeated this time, but the assets of the 21 re-elected members to the new Haryana House too had grown by a whopping 245 per cent from 2009 onwards! Among them is the Haryana Janhit Congress president Kuldeep Bishnoi, whose assets grew by a stupendous 363 per cent – from 17.33 crore to 80.11 crore since the last Assembly elections in Haryana in 2009!

Phenomenal Rise in Politicians’ Net Worth

In the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, even declarations by the Union ministers before the prime minister’s office in 2011 had showed that on an average, their property worth was over Rs 3 crore more than what they owned in 2009! At that time, the assets of the then minister of state for Information and Broadcasting, Dr S Jagathrakshakan (of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham) had increased from Rs. 5.9 crore in 2009 to Rs 64.5 crore in 2011!  

Is it surprising therefore that the assets of the outgoing chief ministers of both Maharashtra and Haryana grew steadfastly ever since they assumed power in their respective states? The assets of former Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan  (Congress) who won from Karad South rose to Rs. 13.83 crore from Rs. 6.81 crore in 2011, while former Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who won from Garhi Sampla Kiloi, saw his financial fortunes grow to Rs 9 crore from Rs. 3 crore in 2009! The Nationalist Congress Party leader and former Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Ajit Pawar too now has declared assets worth Rs 38.83 crore as against Rs. 10.78 crore in 2009!

The BJP MLA from Malabar Hill (Maharashtra), Mangal Prabhat Lodha is the richest member of the state House with declared assets of over Rs 198 crore. He is followed by Samajwadi Party’s Abu Azmi, elected from Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar, with declared assets of over Rs 156 crore. Vipul Goyal of the Bharatiya Janata Party who won from Faridabad is the richest MLA in Haryana with declared assets of Rs.106 crore followed by Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) president Kuldeep Bishnoi (Rs.80 crore), his wife Renuka Bishnoi (Rs.80 crore), BJP’s Abhimanyu (Rs77 crore) and INLD’s Abhay Chautala (Rs.43 crore).

Affluent Politicians: Not all well with Indian Democracy

In the bygone eras, we had monarchs whose opulence indicated the prosperity of their royalties. But today don’t our elected representatives still carry their legacy? The royals were dethroned for the sake of democracy but what if our democratic system emulates the sovereigns while the chasm between the haves and have-nots keeps growing.

It is one thing millionaires working as genuine social workers but what if the motive is to protect their business interest by assuming legislative powers?

Yet there has been a silver lining – the richest male and female candidates in the fray – the BJP candidate from Mumbai’s Dindoshi constituency Mohit Kamboj (worth Rs. 353.53 crore), and the Congress candidate from Hisar in Haryana, Savitri Jindal (worth Rs.108 crore), both lost in the elections.

At least their defeat does suggest that votes cannot be bought by money power – a fact that augurs well for our democracy.