An electoral fraud scandal involving nearly 600 lawmakers in Hengyang, Central China's Hunan Province, shocked many people in China when a widespread system of paying for legislative positions was uncovered.

The price tag in Hengyang was more than half a million yuan ($82,600) for a deputy position to city-level people's congress and 2 million yuan for a position at the provincial people's congress.

When he got the news that 56 out of 76 provincial lawmakers from Hengyang were declared ineligible in late December to serve in the legislature for bribing voters, Li Xingeng, a Hengyang resident who blew the whistle on a local entrepreneur's involvement in electoral bribery, was happy.

"But I'm not surprised. Electoral fraud is common here and didn't only happen in the latest elections," Li told the Global Times. In February, a tip-off letter with his signature was circulated on the Internet, prompting a widespread outcry and an announcement of a quick investigation.

In the letter, he accused Zuo Jianguo, chairwoman of a property developer in the city, of spending about 700,000 yuan in bribes to become a people's congress deputy of Hengyang in 2007. By giving 5,000 yuan each to about 520 voters in the city, she was successfully elected to the Hunan provincial people's congress in 2013, said the letter.

Zuo was just one name on the list of 56 who were expelled, which included 20 officials from the government or State-owned enterprises and 32 private enterprise owners.

"Being a deputy to the people's congress means a lot. Entrepreneurs can enjoy preferential tax policies and priority in applying for projects," Li said.

Red envelopes for voters

According to the electoral law, deputies at municipal level and above are elected by the lower-level people's congresses, while deputies at county and township levels are elected directly by voters.

From December 28, 2012 to January 3, 2013, a total of 527 city-level legislators in Hengyang voted for 76 provincial-level legislators from a list of 93 candidates. The investigation found that 518 of the voters, together with 68 staff, had received bribes totaling 110 million yuan.

Five other provincial-level legislators and three other city-level legislators were found guilty of severe negligence. All the legislators involved were dismissed from the legislature.

But these bribes pale in comparison to the cost of becoming a deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC).

Zhu Siyi, chairman of Shaoguan Yida Fuel Development Co., Ltd, Guangdong Province, confessed to paying more than 10 million yuan in bribes to become elected as an NPC deputy after he was charged with bribery, Nanfang Daily reported. In August 2008, his qualifications for deputy were revoked, and in 2011 he was sentenced to 16 years in prison.

Huang Yubiao, 64 and chairman of Dayawan Guangbao Industry, a property development and construction material company in Huizhou, Guangdong Province, explained the incentives for becoming a people's congress deputy.