(9 Apr 2014) As India votes to elect a new government over the next month and a half, one of the issues at the forefront of every election campaign is corruption.
The run-up to the polls has laid bare widespread disgust in the country over corruption and scams across the political spectrum.
64-year-old Subhash Chandra Agrawal has made fighting corruption his way of life for several years now.
Originally a textile merchant, he started filing Right to Information (RTI) petitions after work when an RTI Act was passed in 2005.
But almost six thousand petitions later, Agrawal has made his fight for greater transparency his full-time job and believes that corruption is the root cause of all economic woes that plague the country.
"Doesn't matter how much you speak of development, or price rises, it all boils down to corruption," he said.
And now, the ruling Congress party looks set to lose dozens of seats in parliament. An upstart anti-corruption party, AAP, could siphon votes from the established parties, making a coalition harder to form.
The Aam Aadmi Party, or the Common Man's Party, was founded in 2012 - fuelled by public anger over government corruption.
Its activist-leader Arvind Kejriwal demands honest governance and an independent anti-corruption watchdog.
He has convinced 78 year-old Rajmohan Gandhi - grandson of Indian independence leader Mohandas K. Gandhi (respectfully called "Mahatma" or "great soul") - to run as the party's candidate for East Delhi.
With their aptly chosen party symbol - a broom - Kejriwal and Gandhi have been asking people on the campaign trail to sweep away the corrupt politicians and give his party a chance.
"Now you all get together and start sweeping," Kejriwal told a crowd of supporters in New Delhi last week.
"The Aam Aadmi Party has been sent here with God's grace to rid you of the suffering caused by the corruption of the Indian National Congress Party and the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party)."
But despite the sabre rattling, the government says they are also committed to eliminating corruption.
"In a developing economy, corruption cannot be wished away," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said. "But every effort has to be made to overcome these tendencies which give rise to corruption."
The opposition Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has also made corruption one of their central campaign issues and blamed the ruling coalition for many of the cases
"It's a series of corruptions, a large number of them took place in the UPA 1 (first term of the United Progressive Alliance coalition)...therefore people do see the last ten years as a wasted opportunity," said senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley.
However, some of their own party members are embroiled in graft cases.
But many believe that the mechanics of the election will remain the same.
"I have not seen really serious attention being paid to (the issue)," said Jagdeep Chhokar, co-founder of the Association of Democratic Reforms, an organisation engaged in raising awareness about election issues and corrupt politicians.
"I don't know if corruption is a real issue or not, but it certainly was talked about a whole lot and it is still being talked about," he added.
The parliamentary election is being held over several weeks for logistical and safety reasons in the country of 1.2 billion people.
Polling in New Delhi will be held on Thursday.
Ballots will be counted on May 16, and most results are expected the same day.
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