Money, money, money: the tycoon factor in India's electionMessage in a bottle ... artist Basavaraj poses with a creation showing Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his election rival Rahul Gandhi. Contesting polls is getting costlier in India and analysts say parties are becoming more reliant on donations from anonymous businessmen, leading to a lack of transparency and worrying conflicts of interest. Modi's BJP banked 4.37 billion rupees ($63.3 million); Congress got just 267 million rupees. On Friday India's supreme court ordered parties to reveal the identity of donors after activists challenged the bond system, which the government has defended. "If you look at the measure that counts, which is how much money do these guys have, then India's tycoons have done tremendously well under Modi," James Crabtree, author of "The Billionaire Raj", told AFP.

Source: Standard Digital April 14, 2019 03:56 UTC