Poll candidates accused of crime keep their hold on India’s voters

Spotlight on rising proportion of such politicians amid MP’s sex assault scandal

- Rohini Mohan

An MP seeking reelection in the southern Indian state of Karnataka is facing allegations of sexually assaulting hundreds of women in his constituency, drawing attention to the increasing proportion of the country's leaders and candidates accused of serious crimes.

Prajwal Revanna, 33, the MP for Hassan constituency and grandson of former Indian prime minister Deve Gowda, is the subject of around 3,000 videos being circulated around the country that show him having sex with women, some of them through force.

His father, state legislator H.D. Revanna, 66, is also accused of intimidation in some of these cases.

Both men face charges of kidnapping, rape and sexual harassment from three police complaints filed by victims.

According to the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), a Delhi-based election research thinktank, about 40 per cent of sitting MPs in the Lower and Upper Houses of Parliament had criminal cases declared against them as at September 2023, with 25 per cent accused of serious crimes including murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping and crimes against women.

ADR is a premier, non-partisan think-tank whose petitions for electoral reforms led to a Supreme Court order in 2002 making it mandatory for candidates to declare their assets, education and criminal cases.

In 2023, another petition led to the striking down of electoral bonds that allowed political parties to get unlimited corporate donations without disclosing their sources to the public.

Politicians with criminal backgrounds tend to be more influential in the world's biggest democracy and are difficult to displace as they use money and muscle to keep their seats, said Mr Milan Vaishnav, director of the South Asia programme at Washington-based think-tank Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Mr Vaishnav is also the author of the book, When Crime Pays: Money And Muscle In Indian Politics.