Candidates in Delhi Polls with Low Income

By Deepak Parvatiyar

January 5, 2015

Studies have shown that politicians with deep pockets have higher chances of winning elections. However, there have been exceptions everywhere. In Delhi, Dharmender Singh Koli of the Aam Aadmi Party was the ‘poorest’ MLA with assets worth just Rs 20,800. He did not have a PAN card. Another such ‘underprivileged’ candidate who won was the AAP’s Rakhi Birla, who had declared assets worth only Rs 51,150.

Despite lacking wealth – an essential prerequisite for winning modern day elections, Koli, just 28 year of age, could get the ticket and emerge victorious. He was the brother of Santosh Koli, a social activist and associate of the AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal who was killed in an accident just before the Delhi elections. Obviously, the financial aspects were redundant as Koli rode high on the sympathy wave for his sister and won from Seemapuri constituency. What worked for him was general acceptance of Kejriwal as an ‘honest crusader’ against corruption.
Yet, for the other ‘low income’ candidate, Rakhi Birla, it was a combination of the AAP wave and her dalit background as well. Her humble background also worked in her favour in the wake of the mass anger against corrupt politicians during the 2013 state elections. Birla’s mother was a sweeper in a government school, while her father was a social worker!

Aged 25 then, Birla not just won the 2013 state election by defeating Raj Kumar Chauhan, the four-time Congress MLA from Mangol Puri, she rose to become the youngest ever cabinet minister of Delhi.

You may also like to read

• Richest Candidates in Delhi

AAP Defied Conventional Stereotypes of Moneyed Politicians

Party affiliations and big names do matter in a big way in elections. The Bharatiya Janata Party’s Narendra Modi wave in the last general elections and subsequent state Assembly elections in Haryana, Maharashtra and Jharkhand (and to an extent also in Jammu and Kashmir) is the latest case in point.

Similarly, Kejriwal too had proved the same in the 2013 Delhi assembly elections when his party of political greenhorns, the AAP, sprung a surprise by winning 28 of the 70 assembly seats in the city state. Indeed it was his wave that ensured victories for the likes of political non entities such as Koli and Birla and it was not surprising therefore that the top ten “poorest” candidates who won in the last assembly elections, they all belonged to the AAP.

Yet, unlike Koli and Birla, all other such ‘poor’ candidates were ‘lakhpatis’ at least. While the third in the line, AAP’s MLA from Model Town, Akhilesh Pati Tripathi, had an asset of Rs 1.59 lakh, the richest among the ten poorest MLAs, AAP’s Ashok Kumar (who won from Ambedkar Nagar), was worth over Rs. 13 lakh.

Following is the list of the ten poorest MLAs of Delhi in the last House and their net worth:

1. Dharmender Singh Koli (Seema Puri), Rs 20,800
2. Rakhi Birla (Mangol Puri), Rs 51,150
3. Akhilesh Pati Tripathi (Model Town), Rs 1, 59,059
4. Prakash  Jarwal (Deoli), Rs 1,64,547
5. Vishesh Ravi (Karol Bagh), Rs 3,72,500
6. Som Dutt Sharma (Sadar Bazar), Rs 5,75,000
7. Manoj Kumar (Kondli), Rs 5,95,514
8. Rajesh Garg Rohiniwala (Rohini), Rs 7,23,127
9. Sanjeev Jha (Burari), Rs 9,85,920
10. Ashok Kumar (Ambedkar Nagar), Rs. 13,35,091

It is interesting to note that three of these top ten ‘poor’ MLAs  – Rakhi Birla, Akhilesh Pati Tripathi and Prakash Jarwal – were post graduates while Vishesh Ravi, Som Dutt Sharma and Sanjeev Jha were graduates. Rajesh Garg Rohiniwala was a college dropout  while only three were just high school pass – Koli, Manoj Kumar and Ashok Kumar.

Local Sponsors Fund ‘Poor’ Candidates

Another interesting aspect of electoral politics in Delhi was that economic conditions of a candidate in no way came in the way of election expenses. Ostensibly, the political parties and local sponsors provide the finances for running election campaigns. How else could have someone like Koli, with an asset of a meagre Rs 20,800 could run a campaign worth over Rs 8 lakh? Or a Rakhi Birla, spend Rs 11.65 lakh to run the third most expensive election campaign of 2013?

A silver lining was that only one of the so-called ‘poor’ candidates, Rohiniwala, had criminal charges against him. However, post elections, at least a couple of them did get into controversies. Prakash Jarwal was arrested for beating up a junior engineer of Delhi Jal Board who had refused to follow the young MLA’s instructions. Koli faced charges of riots and molestation that he and his party claimed to be politically motivated.

Delhi Polls 2015: Will Wealth be a Factor?

Indeed, ‘poor’ candidates largely had cleaner images than the billionaire politicians. But will they win again in the ensuing Delhi elections? The name of Koli does not figure in the AAP’s list of candidates thus far and he is dropped from Seemapuri this time. Similarly, Rohiniwala too has been dropped from Rohini, as well as Ashok Kumar from Ambedkar Nagar constituency.

The ensuing Delhi elections may witness a number of political candidates belonging to low income groups. It is time they also show their political acumen to uplift the poor in their respective constituencies, whether they win or lose.