Election spoils

It is estimated that 1/3rd of the electorate sells their vote in some manner in India. The piece actually points to a Livemint article. 

I would have thought that this was not true if it were not for the recent elections. A heard from friends of mine at whose institution - the workers from nearby poor localities had got cash from each of the parties. This was corroborated by a couple of others I know. 

Also, while on a trip to Tiruvannamalai, the overnight bus from Bangalore had an animated discussion between two guys on how parties paid people in the chaps locality money in the range of 500 to 1000 and how he took money from them and voted for who he wanted to vote in any case. 

Earlier, the whole thing was well known, now with the EC guidelines, it has gone underground...