Age of wonders 3 data collection1/7/2024 “The idea of a right to know about the candidate being a fundamental right is almost entirely ADR’s effort,” says Alok Prasanna Kumar, cofounder, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy. Were it not for a hard-won battle by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) - a familiar name now for its regular analysis of electoral affidavits - the rest of the information, from candidates’ financial assets to criminal charges, might have never seen the light of day. But there was a time when all a candidate had to reveal was her name, age, father’s or husband’s name, and address. With the data publicly available today, it’s easy to take this for granted. We know this because candidates have to mandatorily disclose these details in self-sworn affidavits when they stand for elections. It’s not just criminal charges that MPs have racked up - the assets of 71 MPs reelected to the Lok Sabha between 20 ballooned close to 300%, on average. The picture at the central level is not much better - 43% of Lok Sabha MPs elected in 2019 have criminal charges against them, compared with 34% in 2014. Of the 4,001 legislators in state legislatures across the country, 44% face criminal charges.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |