Apr 29, 2024 02:55 PM IST
The third phase of polling will be held on May 7 in 94 Lok Sabha seats across 12 states and Union territories
Eighteen per cent of the candidates contesting in Phase 3 of the Lok Sabha elections, i.e 244 out of 1,352 individuals, have criminal cases listed against them, according to a report by the National Election Watch and the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
According to the ADR report, 172 candidates (13%) have declared serious criminal cases against them, five have cases related to murder, 38 have declared cases related to crimes against women including rape and 17 candidates have said they have cases relating to hate speech against them.
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It has been revealed that 22 out of 82 (27%) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates and 26 out of 68 (38%) Congress candidates have criminal cases filed against them. For the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), 3 out of 3 (100%) candidates have cases against them. Similarly, for the Shivsena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), the Nationalist Congress Party – Sharadchandra Pawar (NCP), Samajwadi Party (SP), Janata Dal (United), and All India Trinamool Congress (AITC), the percentages are 80, 67, 50, 33 and 17, respectively.
Out of 95 constituencies, red alert has been declared in 43 (45%) constituencies. Such an alert is sounded in a constituency if 3 or more contesting candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves.
About the financial state of the contenders, the report said 392 out of the 1,352 candidates (29%) analysed are crorepatis i.e., having assets worth ₹1 crore or more. Out of 77 candidates, the BJP has fielded 77 (94%) crorepati candidates in the third phase while the Congress has 60 of 68 candidates (88%) as crorepaties.
Meanwhile, all the contestants of the JD(U), Shivsena (UBT), NCP, RJD, Shiv Sena, NCP – Sharadchandra Pawar are crorepatis.
The average asset per candidate contesting is ₹5.66 crore. The BJP has 82 candidates whose average assets per candidate is ₹44.07 crore, and 68 Congress candidates have average assets of ₹20.59 crore.
The top three candidates with the highest assets are the BJP’s Pallavi Shrinivas Dempo ( ₹1361+ crores) of Goa, the BJP’s Jyotiraditya M. Scindia ( ₹424+ crore) of Madhya Pradesh, and the Congress’ Chhatrapati Shahu Shahaji ( ₹342+ crore) of Maharashtra. However, five candidates have declared zero assets.
In the case of educational qualification, 591 candidates (44%) have declared themselves to be graduates or above. 44 candidates are diploma-holders while 639 candidates (47%) have studied till Class VI-XII. Fifty-six have announced to be mere literate and 19 candidates are illiterate.
Also, only 9% (123) of the candidates are women. A maximum of 712 candidates are in the 41-60 age group, and 228 in the 61-80 years of age category. One candidate has declared his age as 84 years.
The first two phases of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections are over. The first phase took place on April 19 across 102 constituencies. The second phase was held on April 26 in 89 constituencies. The third phase voting will occur on May 7 in 94 Lok Sabha seats across 12 states and Union Territories.
