India’s democracy is becoming a rich person’s game, in which criminal antecedents of contenders are seldom disadvantageous. It is an arena from where those not wealthy or inclined to committing crimes are increasingly excluded. Our democracy spawns a governing class, aka political class, which treats elections as an instrument to control crores of Indians, or voters, with their consent, for promoting a variety of interests, not least those of big businesses.

Shocked, are you? You must reflect on the data on myneta.info, a platform of the Association for Democratic Reforms. It shows 88 per cent of members of the 2019 Lok Sabha were crorepati, up from 82 per cent in 2014. Yet, of all candidates who contested in the 2019 elections, only 29 per cent were crorepati, up by two per cent in comparison to 2014. The might of money simply knocks out most non-crorepatis from the fray. Clearly, the richer the candidate, the greater his/her chances of triumphing.