India's election commission says bribery is one of the biggest challenges to free and fair elections. In tiny Arunachal Pradesh, some voters receive the equivalent of up to a year's average earnings.Senior leaders of the ruling BJP party hold an election campaign rally at a playground outside Itanagar, the capital of Arunachal Pradesh, in the second week of April. Voting took place in the remote northeastern Indian state on April 19.
India's elections are in full swing. The mammoth national voting exercise is spread over six weeks, with nearly a billion eligible citizens tasked with choosing over 540 parliamentarians. Voting began in April and results will be announced June 4. Narendra Modi, India's It's not clear how many are swayed by cash or gifts to vote a certain way. The most recent large-scaleof voters was conducted six years ago by the New Delhi-based Association for Democratic Reforms. It found that for 41% of people surveyed, material inducements —"distribution of cash, liquor, gifts etc." — were an important factor motivating their votes for a candidate.
All that cash has led to a certain cynicism among voters. At a BJP rally in a playground flanked by mountains outside the capital, a group of state leaders gather on a wooden stage, surrounded by armed guards. Amid cheers, they promise to rid the state of corruption. This former party leader, whose SUV and solar-powered bungalow stand out among his neighbors' simple bamboo cottages, says he used to recoup his expenses by getting contract work from the politicians he helped elect.
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