Survey says parties buy votes for anything between Rs 200 and Rs 1,000.
Offering sops to gain votes is passé. A recent study claims major political parties are now offering money to the electorate to “purchase” votes.
According to the study conducted by the Centre for Media Studies (CMS), a non-profit research firm, in the past decade, about one-fifth of the country’s electorate were paid cash for their votes.
Using perception, experience and estimation method to arrive at a conclusion, the survey sampled 18,000 voters across the electorate in 2008 and 23,000 voters from the Below Poverty Line (BPL) families in 2007 across 20 Indian states Dr N Bhaskar Rao, CMS chairman, said.
The revelations in the survey, which Rao calls “the mother of all corruptions”, indicates an average 37% of the BPL families from across the country, have taken money from political parties to either cast their vote or abstain from voting in the past decade.
The CMS study states Karnataka has the highest percentage of bribed voters. While 73% of BPL families were bribed to cast their vote in 2007, 47% of the total electorate were bribed in 2008.
Tamil Nadu, the state whose election manifestos flaunt sops like colour TVs for each family among other inducements, also followed the same trend. While 34% of the electorate here received money for votes in 2008, 78% of BPL families were offered cash, said the study.
Rao wasn’t surprised when Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party recently announced a scheme as part of its election manifesto to give Rs2,000 every month to BPL families in Andhra Pradesh.
According to the CMS survey, a whopping 94% of BPL families were bribed in AP in 2007, while 31% of the total electorate were bribed in 2008.
“The TDP’s promise of transferring Rs2,000 per month to the accounts of BPL families only strengthens our finding,” Rao said.
The amount of bribe offered varies in every state. While some states would offer Rs200 per voter, others may offer more than Rs1,000.
“The amount would go higher when the constituency has a two, three or even four pronged fight and each party’s candidate is wooing voters with money,” he said.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}