Telangana has the lowest corruption among 13 States: CSDS survey

HYDERABAD: Only 23 percent of voters in Telangana believe that corruption has increased in the state, according to recent survey findings from the Lokniti programme at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies. (CSDS).

The study included 13 recent state polls for which such data could be analysed. Voters' perspectives were based on Lokniti CSDS state election studies.

More respondents considered that corruption had increased since the previous polls in 12 of 13 recent state assembly elections than those who shared the opposing opinion, according to the survey.

Among the states surveyed, the order of states where people felt corruption had increased and their percentage (given in brackets) were:

Punjab (69), Madhya Pradesh (67), Bihar (60), Goa (59), Karnataka (58), Rajasthan (57), Gujarat (53), Himachal Pradesh (45), Uttarakhand (45), Jharkhand (39), Uttar Pradesh (38) and Telangana (23).

This clearly indicates that Telangana has the least corruption among the States surveyed.

The ruling party or alliance, however, was re-elected in six of the 12 states and voted out of power in the other six. The ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi was re-elected with a huge margin in 2018.

Voters in India who took part in the survey believe that corruption has increased, but that it does not inevitably undermine the ruling party's chances.

Despite the fact that a majority of voters in Gujarat and Karnataka believe corruption has increased, the ruling party has won more seats. Even among those who felt corruption had declined, the ruling party earned more votes than the biggest opposition party, according to the survey.

The main opposition barely slightly outperformed the ruling party among these voters in Goa, Bihar, and Chhattisgarh, the report indicated.

Those who reported more corruption did cast a large number of votes for the opposition parties in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Nevertheless, the votes of the rest of the electorate allowed the Bharatiya Janata Party governments in both states to retain power.

People who believed that corruption had gotten worse in the five other states largely voted against the ruling party, and the outcome reflected their preferences.

Corruption was just one of the top five issues influencing voters decisions in four states: Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Jharkhand. Corruption was highlighted by 5 percent of voters in both Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. All four of these states saw victories for the opposition government.