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Once an MLA, always an MLA? This may sound bizarre, but this holds true for a good number of politicians in India. Our analysis of the data from the seven State assembly elections (Goa, Manipur, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh)in 2022 revealed that 735 sitting MLAs who won in 2017, re-contested the polls once again. That is almost 80 per cent of the MLAs elected in 2017.
Of them, 58.5 per cent managed to get another term as a member of the State legislative assembly. This is according to businessline’s analysis of the data put out by the think tank, Association for Democratic Reforms.
In all the seven States, more than half of the members elected in 2017 stood again for elections. The proportion was the lowest in Gujarat, where just over 69 per cent re-contested this year while the number was 100 per cent in Manipur.
It was 92.5 per cent in Goa, 87 per cent in Punjab, 85.2 per cent in Himachal Pradesh, 75.7 per cent in Uttarakhand and 74.2 per cent in Uttar Pradesh.
Switching sides
Another interesting aspect is that 89 per cent of these 735 MLAs were fielded by their existing political parties. Only 88 MLAs changed their parties between 2017 and 2022. However, voters weren’t quite kind to the ones who switched. Of them, only 38 per cent managed to win. The list of former MLAs who switched parties and lost the 2022 elections includes former Punjab Chief Minister, Captain Amarinder Singh. In October 2021, Singh quit the Indian National Congress to start Punjab Lok Congress, which later merged with the Bharatiya Janata Party.
This trend was however not uniform across the States. In Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, most MLAs who switched sides won the polls. However, in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Goa, most of them lost. In Manipur, 50 per cent of the MLAs who switched sides lost, while the others won.
A good number of MLAs who re-contested elections in 2022 managed to accumulate sizeable wealth in their 2017-2022 tenure. This is according to the declaration in their affidavits. Some of the notable names are Shiromani Akali Dal’s Sukhbir Singh Badal, BJP’s Ramanbhai D Patel and All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen’s Shah Alam. While Badal’s wealth grew by ₹100 crore in five years, Alam saw an increase of ₹77 Crore and Patel saw a rise in wealth by ₹39 Crore.
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