David Cameron, in a key-note speech today on cutting the cost of politics, compared India’s Electoral Commission with that of Britain’s, impyling that it was 20-times better value.
A detailed look at the levels of corruption in each country, however, might lead one to a different conclusion.
In the Indian elections in June this year:
- 150 of the 543 MPs elected were facing criminal charges;
- 17 have been charged with murder;
- 19 have been charged with attempted murder;
- Three MPs face multiple charges of murder;
- One of these, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury – MP for Baharampur, West Bengal – faces three counts of murder, as well as charges of voluntarily causing hurt, wrongful restraint, criminal trespass and criminal intimidation;
- Various other MPs have been charged with slave trading, child prostitution, domestic violence, forgery, rioting, arson, harbouring an offender, extortion, obscene acts and bribery;
- And of the 64 candidates standing in by-elections this month, 15 have charges of murder and attempted murder hanging over them.
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