Crime Doesn't Hurt if You're in Indian Politics (Allegedly); on Total Politics

For Total Politics I have written about the numbers of candidates facing criminal charges in the Indian elections.

It's a lot. But, comfortingly, and something that I haven't included in the Total Politics report is that the number of candidates facing criminal charges is 15.1% of the total, compared to the 2004 elections, when the figure was 24%.

However, as the Times of India points out, the number of candidates in 2004 was 5,435, and there has been an increase in the number of candidates by 48.5% in 2009.

'Overall, there are 8,070 candidates contesting elections across India.'

So has the actual numbers of candidates facing criminal charges really changed dramatically?

Take a look at the maths.