CRIMINALIZATION OF POLITICS CHALLENGE TO INDIAN DEMOCRACY

The political system of "Parliamentary Democracy" which the Constituent Assembly adopted was built on the ideals of democratic republic, popular sovereignty and secularism. In India, because of its heterogeneous political-socio-economic structure, it was decided to implement this concept owing to the notion that a political representative would act as a catalyst to integrate the country. The politicians were seen as personifications of social service, leadership, and sacrifice by the people of the Country. People were expecting Gandhian ideology in politics. But today, India's growing criminalization of politics is an important element of the political life of the country. The emerging scandals and occurrences in government are an indication of loot and malfeasance in governance. From the viewpoint of the law and order, one can notice a clear decline over the decades, and the situation now is such that getting convictions for significant offences has become a lot more difficult. This is because politicians turn to criminals during the time of elections. When criminals and antisocial elements are under pressure from law enforcement agencies, they also go to politicians to seek support. As a result, the process of obtaining incriminating evidence in criminal investigations is greatly hindered by the politicians. Now things have only gotten worse. As criminals realize that politicians can be elected through the use of muscle power, more and more of them try to run for office themselves. A good number of them have contested for the elections and been elected as well. In fact, there are several of them who now hold ministerial positions. Recent experience has shown that if someone is elected to a legislative or ministerial position- all criminal charges against him go into drawers where they are forgotten about forever. The fall-out in other sectors has been no less devastating, since political criminalization has devastated the health and clean functioning of our democratic political system.