Vote for Sale!

Yet another reality check about our democratic tradition that we are proud about and about which we crow at a drop of a hat. From TOI:

The CMS study has Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Bihar trailing Karnataka in 'vote for cash' phenomenon. The report bluntly states, "The recent assembly elections in Karnataka in 2008 have set a new benchmark in purchasing votes." Bribing menace was found to be lower in Left Front-ruled states of Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura (in May 2008).

Sadly, vote buying was rampant in highly literate states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Of interest to the current state bypolls is that CMS data has Doddaballapur topping the list in bribing voters compared with other assembly segments. In a study conducted in seven segments, Doddaballapur polled 57%, while Arabhavi stood last with 16% of voters given or taken cash to vote for a particular political party.

Maybe we should clean up our mess before pontificating about democracy to others.