Paper
Louise Tillin, Milan Vaishnav, Andy Robaina
{
"authors": [
"Milan Vaishnav"
],
"type": "other",
"centerAffiliationAll": "dc",
"centers": [
"Carnegie Endowment for International Peace"
],
"collections": [],
"englishNewsletterAll": "ctw",
"nonEnglishNewsletterAll": "",
"primaryCenter": "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace",
"programAffiliation": "SAP",
"programs": [
"South Asia"
],
"projects": [],
"regions": [
"South Asia",
"India"
],
"topics": [
"Political Reform",
"Democracy"
]
}
Source: Getty
Other
Why Voters Sometimes Prefer Criminals as Candidates
Indian voters do not elect criminals out of ignorance. Instead, candidates with serious criminal records are sometimes preferred because their criminality signals their credibility.
Published on Oct 1, 2016
Source: Governance: An International Journal of Policy, Administration, and Institutions
In democracies around the world, candidates who stand accused or convicted of criminal misconduct routinely win elections and assume important positions. According to data collected by Transparência Brasil, 60% of Brazil’s federal legislators have either been convicted of a crime or are the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation. Ahead of Nigeria’s 2015 election, candidates openly brandished their allegiances to militia groups or criminal gangs while canvassing for votes. The cozy relationship between criminal malfeasance and democratic politics is by no means restricted to the developing world. A May 2016 report in the New York Times revealed that as many as 30 current and former state legislators in New York have been convicted, indicted, or accused of engaging in criminal wrongdoing in the past decade alone.....
About the Author
Milan Vaishnav
Director and Senior Fellow, South Asia Program
Milan Vaishnav is a senior fellow and director of the South Asia Program and the host of the Grand Tamasha podcast at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. His primary research focus is the political economy of India, and he examines issues such as corruption and governance, state capacity, distributive politics, and electoral behavior. He also conducts research on the Indian diaspora.
- Delimitation After Defeat: India’s Unfinished Debate Over Representation
- India and a Changing Global Order: Foreign Policy in the Trump 2.0 EraResearch
- +6
Milan Vaishnav, Sameer Lalwani, Tanvi Madan, …
Recent Work
Carnegie India does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.
More Work from Carnegie India
- The Unresolved Challenges in U.S.–India Semiconductor CooperationCommentary
The U.S.–India semiconductor cooperation story is well-stocked with top-level strategic intent. What remains unresolved, however, are some underlying challenges that will determine whether the cooperation actually functions. Three such friction points stand out.
Shruti Mittal
- Emerging From the “Zombie State” of Trade Agreements: The India-EU FTACommentary
The India–EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is shaping up to be one of the most consequential trade negotiations, both economically and strategically. But, what’s in the agreement, what’s missing, and what will determine its success in the years ahead
Vrinda Sahai, Nicolas Köhler-Suzuki
- Outlooks on Open-Source Innovation at the India AI Impact Summit 2026Article
Drawing on ten public discussions from the India AI Impact Summit 2026, this article highlights key outlooks on open source in AI that are likely to shape policy and governance conversations going forward.
Shruti Mittal
- For People, Planet, and Progress: Perspectives from India's AI Impact SummitResearch
This collection of essays by scholars from Carnegie India’s Technology and Society program traces the evolution of the AI summit series and examines India’s framing around the three sutras of people, planet, and progress. Scholars have catalogued and assessed the concrete deliverables that emerged and assessed what the precedent of a Global South country hosting means for the future of the multilateral conversation.
- +3
Nidhi Singh, Tejas Bharadwaj, Shruti Mittal, …
- India’s Press Note 3 Gamble: Opening the FDI Door to ChinaArticle
On March 10, 2026, India’s Union Cabinet approved amendments to Press Note 3, a regulation that mandated government approval on all foreign direct investment (FDI) from countries sharing a land border with India. This amendment raises questions primarily about whether its stated benefits will materialize and if the risks have been adequately weighed. This piece will address the same.
Konark Bhandari
