‘Independent’ MLAs-MPs will become history in Indian politics! 3 MLAs won in Haryana after 3 decades

Missing Independents from Assemblies: Elections in India are fought mainly around political parties and independent candidates are not given importance unless there is a very big face. The recent Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections also saw the lowest number of independent MLAs elected in three decades, especially in Haryana.

News18 has done an analysis, according to which according to official data, in the assembly elections held not only in Haryana but all over India in the last few years, either very few independent MLAs were elected or they were not elected at all.

What’s in this analysis?

To understand the position of independent candidates, News18 analyzed assembly elections held across India between 2020 and 2024. This year, out of the five states and one Union Territory where assembly elections were held, only Jammu and Kashmir had more than five independent candidates elected. At the same time, three independent candidates each were elected in Odisha, Arunachal Pradesh and Haryana assemblies.

This year, a total of at least 2,240 independent candidates tried their luck in six assembly elections, including in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir, and only 16 could reach the House, including seven candidates from the Union Territory.

Independent candidates also become kingmakers

Independent candidates have played an important role in many past elections across the country and have even been kingmakers. However, elections have become predominantly a two-party system due to the clear mandate of the public in almost all elections.

Thousands of independent candidates tried their luck in 2024

About 2200 independent candidates tried their luck in this year’s assembly elections, but very few of these candidates were able to reach the assembly. Only 3 out of 425 independent candidates could win in Odisha, none out of 984 in Andhra Pradesh, 3 out of 464 in Haryana, 7 out of 346 in Jammu and Kashmir, 3 out of 13 in Arunachal Pradesh and 8 in Sikkim. Not even a single independent candidate could win.

Similarly, about 4.4 thousand independent candidates tried their luck in the 2023 assembly elections but only 16 of them could win.

More than 14 thousand candidates tried their luck till 2020-24

29 assembly elections were held across India between 2020 and 2024. Only the elections of Maharashtra and Jharkhand, which were last held in 2019, were not included in this calculation. A total of 14,040 independent candidates contested the assembly elections and only 62 could reach the House. The deposits of a total of 11,599 candidates were forfeited.

In 29 elections held in 10 states, no elected MLA was elected as an independent. This list includes Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura and Uttar Pradesh. At least one or more independent candidates were elected in at least 19 assembly elections.

Only one independent MLA each was elected in Assam, Bihar, Punjab and West Bengal. In the last assembly elections, only four states/UTs – Rajasthan (eight), Jammu and Kashmir (seven), Kerala (six) and Puducherry (six) have elected more than five independent MLAs. When elections were held in the state in 2022, three independent MLAs were elected in the 40-member Goa Assembly and 60-member Manipur.

Why do independent candidates not get success?

Unless a big name or a leader actually working on the ground contests elections as an independent, people generally shy away from electing them, as they may not be able to meet the demands of the public.

Moreover, in most cases, independent candidates either support the ruling party or join it later – as happened in Haryana this time. Therefore, voters who reject the ruling party in that seat feel cheated.

Moreover, for about 90 percent of independent candidates, limitations in money and manpower prevent their campaigns from being as broad and powerful as others. This is why most of the times, voters do not actually know much about the independent candidates in the fray.

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