Really enjoy the elections. Lose over 200.

The fourth phase of the general election in India will be held today. 128 million people will be voting to select their representatives out of 961 candidates contesting 72 seats of the Lok Sabha. That is almost the combined population of Germany (83 million) and Spain (47 million). "It's clear from the North to the South, money power influences Indian democracy the most," wrote S Shekhar. A party worker campaigning in a village near Varanasi, Prime Minister Modi's constituency, was told by a woman that he would have to pay if he wanted her vote. Since only the rich can pay for votes, 449 members out of 543 in the present Lok Sabha are "millionaires or billionaires". "It's not surprising that until now cash, alcohol and drugs worth about Rs 3,000 crore (Rs 30 billion) have been recovered in various raids after the Lok Sabha elections were announced." Since money is the main requirement for victory, spending in these elections "could top $7 billion, making it one of the priciest elections globally", said the Centre for Media Studies in New Delhi. Modi started a scheme for electoral bonds where the donor remains anonymous, apparently to root out black money. Needless to say 92% of funding for Modi's party the BJP is from corporate donations. "The lack of transparency allows conflicts of interest and quid pro quos to flourish," said Milan Vaishnav, who researches the political economy of India. With so many candidates standing the vast majority lose so badly that they forfeit their deposits, wrote B Pradhan. A candidate contesting for a Lok Sabha seat has to deposit Rs 25,000 as security, which is forfeit if he gets less than 1/6th of the total votes cast. "Over 64,000 (76.88%) candidates who contested the Lok Sabha elections from 1951 have lost their security deposit for failing to secure at least one-sixth of the votes polled in the constituencies where they fought the polls," wrote S Joy. The highest was in 1996 when 90.94% lost their deposits. In 2014 the government collected Rs 145.7 million from forfeited security deposits. A large number of candidates stand knowing they are going to lose. These 'small candidates' cause enormous anxiety to the main parties because even a few hundred votes may make a difference in the first-past-the-post system we have. Major parties may put up dummy candidates with the same caste or similar sounding name as opponents. Some small candidates hope to be paid to drop out. However, many contest to enjoy democracy. There are those who lose repeatedly and are known as 'Dhartipakad', which means 'one who clings to the earth', wrote A Ghosh. Kaka Joginder Singh from Bareilly lost 300 times over 30 years and distributed sweets after a defeat. 94 year old Nagarmal Bajoria has lost over 200 elections, including against previous prime ministers Indira Gandhi and Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Perhaps, these are the true nationalists.