Delhi polls: AAP has highest number of candidates with criminal charges against them

The roots of Aam Aadmi Party can be traced back to the anti-corruption movement in 2011 led by Anna Hazare. The main focus of the party was to make the political scenario in India corruption and crime-free. But is that really the case on the ground?

The AAP party rose to power in the Delhi Assembly Elections of 2015. Now, in Delhi Assembly Elections 2020, this party has the highest number of candidates with serious criminal cases against them.

Out of 70 AAP candidates, 36 have declared serious criminal cases against them in their affidavit to Election Commission (EC), i.e., 51 per cent of the candidates, according to the Association of Democratic Reform (ADR) report. While 42 out of 70, i.e., 60 per cent of AAP candidates have declared criminal cases against them.

The ADR, an election watch NGO, analysed the criminal background of 672 candidates contesting in the Delhi Assembly elections. Out of the 672 candidates, 133 have declared criminal cases against them, while 104 i.e, 15 per cent has declared serious criminal cases against them.

The BJP is the second party to have the most number of candidates with criminal charges or serious criminal charges registered against them. Out of 67 candidates, 26 i.e., 39 per cent are analysed with criminal charges and 17 are having serious criminal charges against them.

The Indian National Congress has 18 out of 66 (27%) candidates with criminal charges and 13 of them have serious criminal charges against them.

AAP's candidate also tops the list of persons with the highest number of hate speech cases registered against them. Amanatullah Khan, the candidate of AAP from Okhla has 12 hate speech cases registered against him. While Congress' Jai Kishan, a candidate from Sultanpur Majra, is second in the list with seven cases of hate speech registered against him.

Among all the 672 candidates who are analysed by ADR, 32 declared charges against women and one declared a case related to rape under IPC Section-376.