An independent candidate is one who contests polls without being affiliated to any political party. Independents often support policies that are different from major political parties. In its 255th report, the Law Commission of India sparked a debate when it recommended that independent candidates be barred from contesting elections as “they are either not serious or contest elections just to confuse the voters.”

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Issues associated with independent candidates and their contestations in the elections:

• While there is a limit on expenditure that an individual candidate can incur on her/his election, there is none on the amount that a political party can. This obviously puts independent candidates, who had no party to bankroll their election, at a huge disadvantage.
• It is difficult for independent candidates to campaign and influence large numbers of voters in India with little money and influence.
• The second strand pertains to the collection of money and is two-pronged. First is tax exemption. The Income Tax Act 1961, and amended in 1978 with the addition of Section 13A, grants 100% exemption from income tax to political parties.
• It also clarifies that for the purposes of this section, ‘political party’ means a political party registered under the Representation of People Act. So, the tax exemption that a party’s candidate enjoys becomes indirectly unavailable to independent candidates.
• The independent candidates are not eligible to get money from electoral trusts. Even the electoral bonds bypasses the Independent candidates as only political parties are eligible.
• Many independent candidates are either not serious or contest elections just to confuse the voters.
• The number of independents winners has been decreasing. In 2014, 3,182 independent candidates contested the Lok Sabha elections and only 3 won seats
• Supreme Court, in Dhartipakar Madan Lal Agarwal v. Rajiv Gandhi, recommended that Parliament devise ways “to meet the onslaught” of such non-serious independent candidates.
• Proliferation of candidates puts “unnecessary and avoidable stress” in election management and increases security and election administration expenditure.
• Low vote shares and little direct policy influence drive the widely-held belief that independents are unimportant for political representation.

State of Independent candidates:

• With a constant decline in the number of successful independent candidates in all general elections, their average success rate is just 0.49 per cent.
• Till now, the highest number of winning independent candidates was seen in 1957 elections when they won 42 seats, followed by 37 in 1952.
• Since 1991 polls, number of winning independents is not just stood at single digit but also sharply declining too. The lowest count also observed in 1991 when only one independent had won out of total 5,514 independents contested.

Importance of Independent candidates:

• The presence of more independent candidates induced voters to step out and vote, and get existing voters to switch their votes.
• Independent candidates provide voters with better opportunities to express their preferences.
• Independents increase the chances of votes for regional parties at the expense of votes for coalition of parties, that forms the national government
• Independents can improve political representation, as independents are free from the dictates of a party line, and have the flexibility to represent local preferences in a way that party-affiliated candidates often do not.
• Independents thus generate a trade-off between giving voters better opportunities for preference expression and better representation in the government.

Conclusion:

In Indian democracy any independent fulfilling current eligibility criteria can contest elections as many times. Independents play an important role in elections: they increase citizen knowledge about alternative policies and can facilitate the selection of representatives who are more responsive to their constituents.