A report by the National Election Watch and the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) on Saturday revealed that 21% of the candidates contesting in Phase 4 of the Lok Sabha elections, amounting to 360 out of 1,710 candidates, have criminal cases against themselves.
The analysis was based on the self-sworn affidavits of 1,710 out of 1,717 candidates contesting in 10 states and Union territories in the Phase 4 polls on May 13.
Unlock exclusive access to the latest news on India’s general elections, only on the HT App. Download Now! Download Now!
According to the ADR report, out of the total, 360 (21%) candidates have criminal cases, 274(16%) have declared serious criminal cases against them, 11 have cases related to murder, 50 have declared cases related to crimes against women including rape and 44 candidates have said they have cases relating to hate speech against them.
Furthermore, the report highlights that 40 out of 70 (57%) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates and 35 out of 61 (57%) Congress candidates have criminal cases filed against them. For the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), 3 out of 3 (100%) candidates have cases against them.
Similarly, for the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) – 2 out of 4 (50%) candidates, for Shivsena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) – 2 out of 4 (50%) candidates, for the Samajwadi Party (SP) – 7 out of 19 (37%) candidates, for the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) – 2 out of 4 (50%) candidates, for the Shiv Sena – 2 out of 3 (67%) candidates, for the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) – 10 out of 17 (59%) candidates, for the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) – 9 out of 17 (53%) candidates, for the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) – 12 out of 25 (48%) candidates and the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) – 3 out of 8 (38%) candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves.
Out of 96 constituencies, red alert has been declared in 58 (60%) constituencies. Such an alert is sounded in a constituency if three or more contesting candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves.
About the financial state of the contenders, the report said 476 out of the 1,710 candidates (28%) analysed are crorepatis i.e., have assets worth ₹1 crore or more. Out of 70 candidates, the BJP has fielded 65 (93%) crorepati candidates in the fourth phase while the Congress has 92% of its 61 candidates i.e., 56 candidates, as crorepati.
Meanwhile, all the contestants of the major parties, namely the JD(U), Shivsena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), the BJD, the RJD, the Shiv Sena, and the TDP are crorepatis.
The average asset per candidate contesting in the Lok Sabha Phase four is ₹11.72 crore. The BJP has 70 candidates whose average assets per candidate is ₹101.77 crore, and 61 Congress candidates have average assets of ₹23.65 crore.
The top three candidates with the highest assets are the TDP’s Dr. Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani ( ₹5,705+ crores) of Andhra Pradesh, the BJP’s Konda Vishweshwar Reddy ( ₹4,568+ crore) of Telangana, and the TDP’s Prabhakar Reddy Vemireddy ( ₹716+ crore) of Andhra Pradesh. However, 24 candidates have declared zero assets.
In the case of educational qualification, 944 candidates (55%) have declared themselves to be graduates or above. 66 candidates are diploma-holders while 644 candidates (38%) have studied till Class VI-XII. Thirty candidates have declared to be just literate and 26 candidates are illiterate.
Also, only 10% (170) of the candidates are women and a maximum of 642 candidates have declared their age to be between 25 to 40 years (38%), while 842 candidates are in the 41-60 age group (49%), and 226 in the 61-80 years (13%) of age category.
