Cash-for-votes scandal
Encyclopedia
The cash-for-votes scandal is a scandal in which the United Progressive Alliance
, the majority-holding parliamentary-party alliance of India led by Sonia Gandhi
, allegedly bribed Indian MPs
in order to survive a confidence vote on 22 July 2008. The vote in the Lok Sabha
arose after the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
-led Left Front
withdrew support from the government, who wanted to pursue an Indo-US nuclear deal.
inspections of its nuclear programs and the splitting of the civil and military aspects of those programs. CPI(M) believed that this would cause India to be effectively subservient to the US. The Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) also objected, on the grounds that the inspections could impede development of the country's nuclear arms program. The vote was won by the government in the face of the predominantly left-wing and Hindu nationalist objections. It had been arguing that the nuclear infrastructure needed to be developed more rapidly because the existing electric generation facilities were incapable of meeting growing demand.
The government's success in the 2008 confidence vote
was marred when three BJP MPs, including Ashok Argal
, waved bundles of cash which they produced from bags in parliament during the debate, accusing the government of giving it to them in order to buy their support or abstention in the vote. The BJP demanded the resignation of Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh over the allegations and claimed that they had video evidence of the deals being made, while the CPI(M) leader said that "Practically every member of parliament has been approached with offers of money and inducements." The government denied the allegations, pointing out that Argal would have self-incriminated himself by admitting to receiving a bribe. The Speaker, Somnath Chatterjee
, asked New Delhi
's police chief to investigate.
A fortnight later, on 2 August, the BJP offered "documentary evidence" to support its allegation that Argal, Faggan Singh Kulaste
and Mahaveer Bhagora
had been bribed. The evidence included transcripts of video recordings and explanatory letters from two of the MPs, all of which was passed to the investigatory committee that had been set up by parliament. The BJP also criticised CNN-IBN, who had recorded the BJP MP's attempt to sting the government but had not broadcast it.
The tapes were broadcast on 12 August 2008 after CNN-IBN had made its appearance before the investigating committee. The company had resisted the calls for an earlier broadcast on the grounds of legal opinion that it had not yet attended the committee and that the broadcast might prejudice the investigatory process.
The parliamentary investigation began on 30 July 2008 and has frequently been referred to as the Kishore Chandra Deo committee. The committee reported in December 2008 that it had found no evidence of bribery in the case of Rajya Sabha
members Amar Singh
and Ahmad Patel. They had been accused of offering the bribes, and Singh was a prominent member of the Samajwadi Party
(SP) which had begun to support the government at the time when the Left Front moved to oppose it. The committee also recommended further investigation into the activities of Sanjeev Saxena
, Sohail Hindustani and Sudheendra Kulkarni
. Saxena was an aide to Amar Singh, Kulkarni had a similar role for the BJP leader, L. K. Advani and Hindustani was a Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha
activist (although some early reports say that he was a driver). Some committee members distanced themselves from the report's full conclusions but agreed that the additional investigation was needed. The report concluded that the video evidence relating to a car at Singh's house was insufficient proof: it was not possible to determine who was in the car and "It does not prove what transpired inside the house. There is nothing to show that money was offered for voting in favour of the motion of confidence or for abstaining from voting."
A police investigation was instigated in January 2009 to look into the issues relating to Saxena, Hindustani and Kulkarni which had been recommended in the report of the parliamentary committee.
revealed that Nachiketa Kapur, a Congress Party political aide, had boasted to US Embassy officials in July 2008 that his party had funds to bribe MPs in order to obtain a favourable outcome. Kapur claimed that four MPs who were members of Rashtriya Lok Dal
(RLD) had already been paid off. The Hindu
reported that
Former United States Ambassador to India
David Campbell Mulford commented that US diplomatic cables were "generally accurate" but that all he could recall of the incident was that someone "turned out with a suitcase of money and dumped it on the table ... That was clear theatrics." In denying any wrongdoing, the RLD pointed out that they only had three MPs at the time, not four as stated in the leaked cable. Satish Sharma
, who was the person for whom Kapur acted as an aide according to the cable, said that he had no aide at all.
The revelations led immediately to further calls for the resignation of Manmohan Singh and also for an investigation of the activities of Kapur and Sharma. There were also calls for the issue of a First Information Report
(FIR), which is the formal means by which the police record their notification of an offence.
It was announced on the following day, 18 March, that the police investigation into the original allegations was near to completion.
, a sometimes controversial publication that specialises in exposés, reported that the entire affair was a BJP set-up designed to entrap members of the government. The report was based on an account given by Siddharth Gautam, a CNN-IBN reporter who had been involved, and on some recordings of telephone conversations that had not previously been made available.
and they argued that the investigatory process had stalled since the report of the parliamentary committee. The hearing was adjourned to due a procedural irregularity in the application, and when this was resolved on 2 May the Court issued notices to the Delhi police and government that required them to provide information regarding the current status of the investigation. The petitioners said that
On 7 July the Court voiced its frustration with the continued absence of the requested status reports and set a filing deadline of 15 July. The police had requested a further two months to fulfil the request. Upon being presented with the status report, the Court criticised the lethargy of the police investigation, complaining that little had been done and that which had been done was poorly documented, inconsistent and in places factually incorrect.
The court was similarly disparaging of a second report which followed on from a burst of activity by the police. On 5 August 2011, Justice Loda said
for permission to interview him and Amar Singh, still a member of the Rajya Sabha, and further announced that they intended to re-interview Hindustani. The developments caused Deo to clarify that his committee had not absolved Singh of any involvement but rather that it had found no evidence to confirm involvement. He also had to explain that the decision not to interview Singh had been because the committee had no prima facie evidence of Singh's involvement, the summonsing process for a Rajya Sabha member would have been complex, and the outcome may have still been a failure to attend as Singh was not obliged to do so. Furthermore, he stated, the dissenting members of the committee had agreed with its conclusions but had disagreed with his chairmanship. Deo had become a cabinet minister on 12 July.
Hindustani was arrested on 20 July and announced that he would be repeating his previous statements that he had been approached by Singh and some members of the Congress Party who had wanted him to "arrange" BJP votes. The police described him as the "orchestrator" and explained that he was working for the BJP in an attempt to entrap the government, but his defence counsel has claimed that he was just a "whistleblower" and that as such he should not have been the primary focus of police attention. The BJP took a similar line to defence counsel, claiming that the investigation was an "eyewash", querying how police lethargy had turned so quickly and suggesting that they were being put under pressure by the government.
Singh was interviewed on 22 July and on the same day the police announced that they wished to speak with SP MP Rewati Raman Singh, whom the BJP MPs alleged had approached them on behalf of Amar Singh. On the same day, the Court ordered that Hindustani and Saxena should be detained in custody for 14 days, despite defence arguments of police misconduct. The defence claimed that the police had not interviewed Hindustani and therefore had no new evidence upon which to base their recent claims of orchestration. When the police stated that interviews had taken place the defence counsel responded by noting that they had not been present for any such interviews and that their presence was a legal requirement. The detentions were subsequently extended to 18 August.
Despite Amar Singh having previously fallen out with his party's leadership and being expelled from the party, Mulayam Singh, the leader of the SP, voiced his support for the ex-member on 24 July and claimed that Amar Singh had been framed. Rewati Raman Singh and Argal were interviewed by police on the following day, with Singh claiming that he gave them the same details as he had previously given to the investigatory committe, and Argal claiming that in fact Singh had approached him in relation to facilitating the alleged bribe. Kulkarni was interviewed on 14 July.
Amar Singh was arrested on 6 September for his alleged involvement in the scam and was ordered to be remanded in custody until 19 September. He had appealed to the court to exempt him from appearing personally, stating that he was ill with an infection; however, his request was rejected.
United Progressive Alliance
The United Progressive Alliance is a ruling coalition of center-left political parties heading the government of India. The coalition is led by the Indian National Congress , which is currently the single largest political party in the Lok Sabha...
, the majority-holding parliamentary-party alliance of India led by Sonia Gandhi
Sonia Gandhi
Sonia Gandhi is an Italian-born Indian politician and the President of the Indian National Congress, one of the major political parties of India. She is the widow of former Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi...
, allegedly bribed Indian MPs
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
in order to survive a confidence vote on 22 July 2008. The vote in the Lok Sabha
Lok Sabha
The Lok Sabha or House of the People is the lower house of the Parliament of India. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by direct election under universal adult suffrage. As of 2009, there have been fifteen Lok Sabhas elected by the people of India...
arose after the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
Communist Party of India (Marxist)
The Communist Party of India is a political party in India. It has a strong presence in the states of Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura. As of 2011, CPI is leading the state government in Tripura. It leads the Left Front coalition of leftist parties in various states and the national parliament of...
-led Left Front
Left Front
The Left Front is an alliance of Indian leftist parties. After a 34-year reign in West Bengal, the Left Front was swept from power in the 2011 election...
withdrew support from the government, who wanted to pursue an Indo-US nuclear deal.
Events and allegations
The CPI(M) objected to a proposal that would see the United States supply nuclear technology to India in return for India agreeing to United NationsUnited Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
inspections of its nuclear programs and the splitting of the civil and military aspects of those programs. CPI(M) believed that this would cause India to be effectively subservient to the US. The Bharatiya Janata Party
Bharatiya Janata Party
The Bharatiya Janata Party ,; translation: Indian People's Party) is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Indian National Congress. Established in 1980, it is India's second largest political party in terms of representation in the parliament...
(BJP) also objected, on the grounds that the inspections could impede development of the country's nuclear arms program. The vote was won by the government in the face of the predominantly left-wing and Hindu nationalist objections. It had been arguing that the nuclear infrastructure needed to be developed more rapidly because the existing electric generation facilities were incapable of meeting growing demand.
The government's success in the 2008 confidence vote
2008 Lok Sabha vote of confidence
The United Progressive Alliance , the governing alliance in India elected in 2004, faced its first confidence vote in the Lok Sabha on 22 July 2008 after the Communist Party of India -led Left Front withdrew support over India approaching the IAEA for the Indo-US nuclear deal...
was marred when three BJP MPs, including Ashok Argal
Ashok Chhaviram Argal
Ashok Chhaviram Argal is an Indian politician and a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party . In 1996, he was elected to the 11th Lok Sabha from Morena constituency in Madhya Pradesh. In 1998, 1999 and 2004, he was re-elected to the Lok Sabha from the same consituency...
, waved bundles of cash which they produced from bags in parliament during the debate, accusing the government of giving it to them in order to buy their support or abstention in the vote. The BJP demanded the resignation of Prime Minister
Prime Minister of India
The Prime Minister of India , as addressed to in the Constitution of India — Prime Minister for the Union, is the chief of government, head of the Council of Ministers and the leader of the majority party in parliament...
Manmohan Singh over the allegations and claimed that they had video evidence of the deals being made, while the CPI(M) leader said that "Practically every member of parliament has been approached with offers of money and inducements." The government denied the allegations, pointing out that Argal would have self-incriminated himself by admitting to receiving a bribe. The Speaker, Somnath Chatterjee
Somnath Chatterjee
Somnath Chatterjee is an Indian politician who had been associated with the Communist Party of India for most of his life, though he is currently an independent...
, asked New Delhi
New Delhi
New Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...
's police chief to investigate.
A fortnight later, on 2 August, the BJP offered "documentary evidence" to support its allegation that Argal, Faggan Singh Kulaste
Faggan Singh Kulaste
Faggan Singh Kulaste is a member of the 14th Lok Sabha of India. He represents the Mandla constituency of Madhya Pradesh and is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party political party....
and Mahaveer Bhagora
Mahaveer Bhagora
Mahaveer Bhagora is a member of the 14th Lok Sabha of India. He represents the Salumber constituency of Rajasthan and is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party political party.-Bribe for Vote:...
had been bribed. The evidence included transcripts of video recordings and explanatory letters from two of the MPs, all of which was passed to the investigatory committee that had been set up by parliament. The BJP also criticised CNN-IBN, who had recorded the BJP MP's attempt to sting the government but had not broadcast it.
The tapes were broadcast on 12 August 2008 after CNN-IBN had made its appearance before the investigating committee. The company had resisted the calls for an earlier broadcast on the grounds of legal opinion that it had not yet attended the committee and that the broadcast might prejudice the investigatory process.
The parliamentary investigation began on 30 July 2008 and has frequently been referred to as the Kishore Chandra Deo committee. The committee reported in December 2008 that it had found no evidence of bribery in the case of Rajya Sabha
Rajya Sabha
The Rajya Sabha or Council of States is the upper house of the Parliament of India. Rajya means "state," and Sabha means "assembly hall" in Sanskrit. Membership is limited to 250 members, 12 of whom are chosen by the President of India for their expertise in specific fields of art, literature,...
members Amar Singh
Amar Singh (politician)
Amar Singh is an Indian politician from the state of Uttar Pradesh and one of the founding leaders of Samajwadi Party. Known for his chaste Hindi and political connections, Amar Singh polarises the public opinion on him...
and Ahmad Patel. They had been accused of offering the bribes, and Singh was a prominent member of the Samajwadi Party
Samajwadi Party
Samajwadi Party is a political party in India. It is based in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It describes itself as a democratic socialist party...
(SP) which had begun to support the government at the time when the Left Front moved to oppose it. The committee also recommended further investigation into the activities of Sanjeev Saxena
Sanjeev Saxena
Sanjeev Saxena is a former aide of former Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh. He helped him in delivering cash to the MPs in Cash-for-votes scandal. He was arrested on July 17, 2011 by Delhi Police....
, Sohail Hindustani and Sudheendra Kulkarni
Sudheendra Kulkarni
Sudheendra Kulkarni is an Indian politician and columnist. He is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, earning a B. Tech in Civil Engineering in 1980. He began his political career as a full time activist for the Communist Party of India . He became a member of Bharatiya Janata...
. Saxena was an aide to Amar Singh, Kulkarni had a similar role for the BJP leader, L. K. Advani and Hindustani was a Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha
Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha
The Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha , translation: Indian Popular Youth Front) is the youth wing of Bharatiya Janata Party . It is founded in 1978 and first national president was Kalraj Mishra.-Organization:...
activist (although some early reports say that he was a driver). Some committee members distanced themselves from the report's full conclusions but agreed that the additional investigation was needed. The report concluded that the video evidence relating to a car at Singh's house was insufficient proof: it was not possible to determine who was in the car and "It does not prove what transpired inside the house. There is nothing to show that money was offered for voting in favour of the motion of confidence or for abstaining from voting."
A police investigation was instigated in January 2009 to look into the issues relating to Saxena, Hindustani and Kulkarni which had been recommended in the report of the parliamentary committee.
Revelations by WikiLeaks
The Congress Party had worked to support the government in the vote and on 17 March 2011 WikiLeaksWikileaks
WikiLeaks is an international self-described not-for-profit organisation that publishes submissions of private, secret, and classified media from anonymous news sources, news leaks, and whistleblowers. Its website, launched in 2006 under The Sunshine Press organisation, claimed a database of more...
revealed that Nachiketa Kapur, a Congress Party political aide, had boasted to US Embassy officials in July 2008 that his party had funds to bribe MPs in order to obtain a favourable outcome. Kapur claimed that four MPs who were members of Rashtriya Lok Dal
Rashtriya Lok Dal
Rashtriya Lok Dal is a political party in India. Ajit Singh is the party president. He is carrying on the political legacy of Charan Singh and the original Lok Dal..Ch. Charan Singh was a great farmer leader and was a former Prime Minister of India...
(RLD) had already been paid off. The Hindu
The Hindu
The Hindu is an Indian English-language daily newspaper founded and continuously published in Chennai since 1878. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, it has a circulation of 1.46 million copies as of December 2009. The enterprise employed over 1,600 workers and gross income reached $40...
reported that
Former United States Ambassador to India
United States Ambassador to India
American Embassy New Delhi was established Nov 1, 1946, with George R. Merrell as Chargé d'Affaires ad interim.-Chiefs of Mission to India:-See also:*Embassy of India, Washington, D.C.*India – United States relations*Foreign relations of India...
David Campbell Mulford commented that US diplomatic cables were "generally accurate" but that all he could recall of the incident was that someone "turned out with a suitcase of money and dumped it on the table ... That was clear theatrics." In denying any wrongdoing, the RLD pointed out that they only had three MPs at the time, not four as stated in the leaked cable. Satish Sharma
Satish Sharma
Satish Sharma is an Indian politician. Representing the Indian National Congress party, he is a former member of the Union Cabinet in the Government of India. He has been accused in numerous scandals and irregularities in government deals whenever he/his party was in power...
, who was the person for whom Kapur acted as an aide according to the cable, said that he had no aide at all.
The revelations led immediately to further calls for the resignation of Manmohan Singh and also for an investigation of the activities of Kapur and Sharma. There were also calls for the issue of a First Information Report
First Information Report
A First Information Report or FIR is a written document prepared by the police in India, Pakistan and Japan when they receive information about the commission of a cognizable offence. It is a report of information that reaches the police first in point of time and that is why it is called the First...
(FIR), which is the formal means by which the police record their notification of an offence.
It was announced on the following day, 18 March, that the police investigation into the original allegations was near to completion.
Tehelka expose
TehelkaTehelka
Tehelka is an Indian weekly political magazine under the editorship of Tarun Tejpal known for its undercover exposé style of journalism. Its cover price is Rs 20 per issue. The publication began in 2000 as a news website, Tehelka.com...
, a sometimes controversial publication that specialises in exposés, reported that the entire affair was a BJP set-up designed to entrap members of the government. The report was based on an account given by Siddharth Gautam, a CNN-IBN reporter who had been involved, and on some recordings of telephone conversations that had not previously been made available.
Supreme Court involvement
An application was made to the Supreme Court on 2 April requesting that it ordered a Special Investigation Team to probe the affair. The applicants were a group calling themselves the India Rejuvenation InitiativeIndia Rejuvenation Initiative
India Rejuvenation Initiative is an Indian anti-corruption organization formed by a group of retired and serving bureaucrats.It was among the prime movers in the petition to the Supreme Court of India opposing the appointment of P. J. Thomas as Chief Vigilance Commissioner...
and they argued that the investigatory process had stalled since the report of the parliamentary committee. The hearing was adjourned to due a procedural irregularity in the application, and when this was resolved on 2 May the Court issued notices to the Delhi police and government that required them to provide information regarding the current status of the investigation. The petitioners said that
On 7 July the Court voiced its frustration with the continued absence of the requested status reports and set a filing deadline of 15 July. The police had requested a further two months to fulfil the request. Upon being presented with the status report, the Court criticised the lethargy of the police investigation, complaining that little had been done and that which had been done was poorly documented, inconsistent and in places factually incorrect.
The court was similarly disparaging of a second report which followed on from a burst of activity by the police. On 5 August 2011, Justice Loda said
Arrests
Saxena was arrested on 17 July, two days after the police had been lambasted by the Court. The police claimed to have sufficient evidence to prove that he had delivered money to the three BJP MPs and alleged that he had misled both their enquiry and that of parliament. They also announced that they had interviewed Bhahora and Kulaste, who were no longer MPs, but that their ability to interview Argal was hampered because he was still in office. They had applied to the Home MinistryMinistry of Home Affairs (India)
Ministry of Home Affairs , known as the Home Ministry or MHA, is an Indian government ministry. It is an interior ministry mainly responsible for the maintenance of Internal security and domestic policy.-Ministerial Team:...
for permission to interview him and Amar Singh, still a member of the Rajya Sabha, and further announced that they intended to re-interview Hindustani. The developments caused Deo to clarify that his committee had not absolved Singh of any involvement but rather that it had found no evidence to confirm involvement. He also had to explain that the decision not to interview Singh had been because the committee had no prima facie evidence of Singh's involvement, the summonsing process for a Rajya Sabha member would have been complex, and the outcome may have still been a failure to attend as Singh was not obliged to do so. Furthermore, he stated, the dissenting members of the committee had agreed with its conclusions but had disagreed with his chairmanship. Deo had become a cabinet minister on 12 July.
Hindustani was arrested on 20 July and announced that he would be repeating his previous statements that he had been approached by Singh and some members of the Congress Party who had wanted him to "arrange" BJP votes. The police described him as the "orchestrator" and explained that he was working for the BJP in an attempt to entrap the government, but his defence counsel has claimed that he was just a "whistleblower" and that as such he should not have been the primary focus of police attention. The BJP took a similar line to defence counsel, claiming that the investigation was an "eyewash", querying how police lethargy had turned so quickly and suggesting that they were being put under pressure by the government.
Singh was interviewed on 22 July and on the same day the police announced that they wished to speak with SP MP Rewati Raman Singh, whom the BJP MPs alleged had approached them on behalf of Amar Singh. On the same day, the Court ordered that Hindustani and Saxena should be detained in custody for 14 days, despite defence arguments of police misconduct. The defence claimed that the police had not interviewed Hindustani and therefore had no new evidence upon which to base their recent claims of orchestration. When the police stated that interviews had taken place the defence counsel responded by noting that they had not been present for any such interviews and that their presence was a legal requirement. The detentions were subsequently extended to 18 August.
Despite Amar Singh having previously fallen out with his party's leadership and being expelled from the party, Mulayam Singh, the leader of the SP, voiced his support for the ex-member on 24 July and claimed that Amar Singh had been framed. Rewati Raman Singh and Argal were interviewed by police on the following day, with Singh claiming that he gave them the same details as he had previously given to the investigatory committe, and Argal claiming that in fact Singh had approached him in relation to facilitating the alleged bribe. Kulkarni was interviewed on 14 July.
Amar Singh was arrested on 6 September for his alleged involvement in the scam and was ordered to be remanded in custody until 19 September. He had appealed to the court to exempt him from appearing personally, stating that he was ill with an infection; however, his request was rejected.