is jailed but in india a weak police and legal system ensures that mafia dons get away with murder they can use force with impunity so a la weber the mafia have as much legitimacy in practice if not in theory as the state a criminal who can collect protection money is as powerful as an official taxcollector a don who can use force to settle disputes is actually superior to the state which is unable to settle disputes because of legal delays a criminal candidate who can capture and stuff ballot boxes is in our twisted democracy on par with a popular politician who wins every vote normally officials will report booth capturing but not if the capturing don can credibly threaten them with death besides dons have lots of money which is very useful for fighting expensive election campaigns india has no system of public funding to enable honest people to meet election costs black money is needed in hoards and here criminals have a huge comparative advantage in the up election mayawati auctioned several candidatures to the highest bidder so according to reports did the samajwadi party obviously criminals will get the better of honest folk in such auctions why do dons invest large sums in getting tickets because a ticket to the assembly is a ticket to kickbacks and extortion using political power since the legal system no longer penalises theft politicians who steal have a comparative advantage over others returns on political investments are so high that criminals are disinclined to invest in taxfree rbi bonds politics is so much more profitable and just as taxfree so our system has unwittingly created huge incentives for criminals to enter politics in the long run we must clean up the legal and police system meanwhile we need quick steps to change the incentive structure one is to provide public funding for elections that will reduce the comparative advantage of criminals and increase that of honest candidates the second is to have a blanket ban on defections a major source of political profit any legislator who defects or disobeys the party whip in a vote of confidence should be forced to go back to voters for election on a new election symbol those who split a party should go back to voters too that will restore some meaning to representative government but the most farreaching measure surely will be to give automatic seniority to cases against legislators which should be heard on a daybyday basis atal behari vajpayee you need to find a new way of reviving the sagging fortunes of your party why not try to seize the high moral ground by introducing a bill to prosecute criminal legislators quickly your law minister arun jaitley will surely comply true such a law will be dismaying for mafia dons in your own party but other parties have even more of them and will suffer even more what are you waiting for