New Delhi: One in every four BJP and Congress candidates contesting the 2024 Lok Sabha elections entered politics because of their family legacy, a study by the election non-profit Prajatantra Foundation shows. The two parties together have declared 768 candidates, of which 209 have a political legacy, the yet-to-be-released study shows.
Most of them are second-generation politicians.
For its analysis, Prajatantra defines family legacy in politics as: “When an individual enters politics because of their familial ties or connections to relatives already established in the political sphere, providing them with advantages such as access to networks and resources.”
The analysis divides such candidates into second-, third-, or fourth-generation politicians or a relative of a politician.
In the case of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has frequently criticised its rivals for ‘promoting dynasty politics’, a quarter of candidates entered the political sphere owing to their family legacy. Of the 442 candidates it has fielded in the current election, 110 (24.88 percent) have a political legacy.
This is against 30.36 percent of Congress’s candidates.
“One major reason for the prevalence of candidates from dynastic backgrounds is their access to resources. Over the years, contesting elections has become increasingly dependent on financial resources, influential networks, and media exposure. These are easier for dynastic candidates to obtain than for individuals from humble or non-dynastic backgrounds,” Shweta Sharma, research director at Prajatantra, told ThePrint.
The prolonged intake of dynasts in Indian politics has concentrated power in a few hands and reduced the scope of meritocracy, she said, adding: “Qualified and capable leaders from non-dynastic backgrounds are often overlooked due to this.”
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Dushyant Singh to Anurag Thakur — BJP’s political legatees
A closer look at BJP’s candidates list shows that out of its 110 candidates with political legacies, 69 were second-generation politicians. For instance, Bansuri Swaraj, daughter of former Union minister Sushma Swaraj, is making her political debut from the New Delhi seat. Candidates like B.Y. Raghavendra and Rao Inderjit Singh are sons of former chief ministers, B.S Yediyurappa (Karnataka) and Rao Birender (Haryana), respectively.
Ravneet Singh Bittu, who defected from the Congress earlier this year, is the grandson of former Punjab CM Beant Singh. He too is counted as a second-generation politician.
Other notable second-generation politicians in the BJP’s candidate list are Union ministers Anurag Thakur, Dharmendra Pradhan, Piyush Goyal, and Kiren Rijiju.
Meanwhile, Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, Dushyant Singh (son of former Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje), and Jyoti Mirdha are third-generation political leaders. Scindia and Mirdha were senior leaders in the Congress before joining the BJP.
Meanwhile, Bharati Pawar (daughter-in-law of former minister Arjun Pawar.), C.N. Manjunath (son-in-law of former PM H.D. Deve Gowda), Preneet Kaur (wife of former Punjab CM Amarinder Singh), Kalaben Delkar (wife of former MP Mohan Delkar), and Annasaheb Jolle (husband of former Karnataka minister Shashikala Jolle) are all part of BJP’s list of candidates and entered politics owing to their “relatives”.
Rahul Gandhi only 4th generation politician — Congress’s list
The Congress party, which is often on the receiving end of jibes over Gandhis, has an even higher percentage of such candidates. Of its 326 candidates, 99 have political legacies.
Significantly, Rahul Gandhi is the only fourth-generation politician on the list. He’s in the fray from both Wayanad in Kerala and Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh.
According to the findings, 80 Congress candidates are second-generation politicians. This includes names like Nakul Nath (son of Kamal Nath), Vaibhav Gehlot (son of Ashok Gehlot), Vikramaditya Singh (son of the late Virbhadra Singh), Y.S. Sharmila (daughter of the late Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy), Praniti Shinde (daughter of Sushilkumar Shinde) and Gaurav Gogoi (son of the late Tarun Gogoi) — all children of former chief ministers.
The party also has at least four third-generation political leaders as its candidates. Anshul Avijit, its Patna Sahib candidate, is the son of Meira Kumar and the grandson of Babu Jagjivan Ram. M. Shreyas Patel, the candidate from Hassan in Karnataka, is the son of S.G. Anupama and the grandson of former MP G. Puttaswamy Gowda, and Deepender Hooda is the son of former CM Bhupinder Hooda and grandson of Congress leader Ranbir Singh Hooda.
Biresh Thakur is set to fight from Kanker in Chhattisgarh. Thakur’s father and grandfather are both former MLAs in Madhya Pradesh, according to Prajatantra.
Meanwhile, Radhakrishna (son-in-law of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge), D.K. Suresh (brother of Karnataka Deputy CM D.K. Shivakumar), and Jyotsna Mahant (wife of former Union minister Charan Das Mahant) are all part of Congress’s list of candidates with prominent politicians for relatives.
Methodology
Prajatantra is set to release a detailed report on the same once the 2024 Lok Sabha elections are over.
According to Prajatantra, the study is based on both primary and secondary research and comes from a range of resources — including candidates’ affidavits, their teams, stringer networks, news reports, and articles on the candidates. “This approach ensures a detailed profiling of the candidate’s pathways to political entry into the country.”
Prajatantra is a non-profit whose primary aim is to reduce barriers to political entry and facilitate electoral participation for better governance.
“Our mission is to democratise political entry and unlock equitable opportunities for all aspiring leaders, thereby heralding a new era of inclusive governance and democratic participation,” its website says, adding that its primary focus is “improving governance quality by making it easier for meritorious people to contest elections”.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswami)
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