Who wins in the Indian parliament election: Criminals, wealthy and incumbents?

P. Duraisamy () and Bruno Jérôme
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P. Duraisamy: University of Madras

Journal of Social and Economic Development, 2017, vol. 19, issue 2, No 1, 245-262

Abstract: Abstract The study examines the impact of criminal charges, wealth, incumbency status, and party affiliation of the candidates on their chances of winning and vote share in the Indian parliamentary election 2009 using candidate level information on 8070 contestants from 543 constituencies. The descriptive and econometric analyses of the data reveal that there is a strong association between wealth, criminal charges and incumbency status of the candidates and the electoral outcomes. Wealthy incumbent candidates had higher chances of winning the election, and these candidates also seem to be facing criminal charges. The incumbent candidates belonging to the state ruling party had higher chances of winning and increasing their vote share. Though criminal charges depress the chance of winning and vote share, the incumbency effects, particularly the party incumbency, has a bigger effect than criminality and wealth status.

Keywords: Indian election; Incumbency; Wealth; Criminal charges (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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DOI: 10.1007/s40847-017-0044-0

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