One in every 5 candidates contesting Assembly polls faces at least one serious criminal charge

One in every five candidates fighting the Assembly elections to five states have at least one serious criminal case against him/her, while two in every five are crorepatis. Three candidates are third gender, 755 are women and 10 are more than 80 years old.

Analysing the affidavits of 6,874 out of 6,944 candidates in five states -- Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa -- the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has said that 1,694 candidates have criminal cases against them and out of this, 1,262 or 18 per cent of total candidates have serious charges.

Fourty-four of them have murder cases against him/her, while 209 have attempt to murder cases. There are 107 candidates, including 16 facing rape charges, who have declared cases related to crime against women.

Uttar Pradesh -- with 37 candidates with murder charges, 157 with attempt to murder charges and 69 with charges of crime against women -- has the highest proportion of candidate with serious criminal charges at 20 per cent (889 candidates), followed by Goa 18 per cent (53 candidates), Punjab 17 per cent (218), Manipur 15 per cent (41) and Uttarakhand 10 per cent (61).

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Among the parties, Samajwadi Party has the highest proportion of candidates with serious criminal charges -- 41 per cent or 171 of its 417 candidates -- followed by the BJP at 28 per cent or 172 of 615 nominees.

For Congress, 22 per cent or 149 of its 674 candidates have serious criminal charges, while BSP's figure was 27 per cent or 128 of 473 candidates. AAP had 16 per cent or 90 of 570 candidates with serious criminal charges against them.

Almost half of the 690 constituencies were marked as red alert constituencies by the ADR as it had three or more candidates with declared criminal cases -- to be precise, 313or 45% of the seats were red alert constituencies.

When it comes to wealth, 2836 or 41 per cent of 6,876 candidates analysed were crorepatis. More than half of the candidates in Goa (62 per cent or 187 of 301 candidates) and Manipur (54 per cent or 143 of 265) had assets worth at least Rs 1 crore.

Punjab had 41 per cent or 521 of 1,276 candidates, Uttarakhand 40 per cent or 252 of 626 and Uttar Pradesh 39 per cent or 1,733 of 6,874 in the crorepati club.

BJP has the highest proportion of crorepati candidates at 87 per cent or 534 candidates, while Congress has 63 per cent or 423 candidates. Three in every four of Samajwadi Party candidates (312) were crorepatis, while BSP had 349 such candidates (74%).

The average of assets per candidate in five states is Rs 3.27 crore, the ADR said.

If one takes the average assets, Goan candidates with Rs 6.48 crore average assets are way ahead of those in other four states. A Manipur candidate may have assets of Rs 2.55 crore, while Uttarakhand candidates' average assets is at Rs 2.74 crore.

For UP candidates, it is Rs 3.27 crore and for Punjab, it is Rs 4.31 crore.

There are 2,684 candidates are Class V to Class 12, while 3,636 (53%) are graduates or have higher degrees, while 108 candidates are diploma holders. According to the ADR, 303 candidates have declared themselves to be just literate and 106 candidates are illiterates, while 37 have not given their educational qualification.

When it comes to age, 2,195 (32%) candidates have declared their age to be between 25 to 40 years, while 3,694 (54%) are 41 to 60 years, 975 are 61 to 80 years, while ten candidates have declared they are more than 80 years old.

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