LS polls phase-8 : 20 per cent candidates criminals, 31 per cent billionaires, Lok Sabha election 2014 candidate background

LS polls phase-8 : 20 per cent candidates criminals, 31 per cent billionaires

New Delhi: The National Election Watch (NEW) and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) have analysed the self-sworn affidavits of 890 candidates out of 897 candidates who are contesting in the phase 8 of Lok Sabha 2014 elections. The rest of the candidates were not analysed due to unclear/incomplete affidavits uploaded on the ECI website at the time of making of this report. Of them 177 candidates (20 %) have declared criminal cases against them and 125 of them (14 %) are facing serious criminal charges.

272 candidates (31 %) are crorepati candidates and Rs 5.90 crore is the average assets of the candidates. Andhra Pradesh has 57, Bihar 37 and Uttar Pradesh have 52 candidates with criminal records respectively. Lok Sabha election phase 8 voting will take place on May 7.

Also Read-- complete discription of phase-8 and live updates

Criminal Background

1. - Candidates with criminal cases: Out of the 890 candidates analysed, 177 (20 %) candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves
2. - Candidates with serious criminal cases: 125 (14%) candidates have declared serious criminal cases including cases related to murder, attempt to murder, communal disharmony, electoral violations, crimes against women etc.
3. - Candidates with cases related to murder: 9 candidates have declared cases related to murder.
4. - Candidates with cases related to attempt to murder: 32 candidates have declared cases of attempt to murder.
5. - Candidate with rape charges: Pawan Pandey of BSP from Sultanpur constituency has declared rape charges against himself.
6. - Candidates with cases related to Crimes against Women: 8 candidates have declared cases related to crimes against women.
7. - Candidates with cases related to communal disharmony: 5 candidates have declared cases related to Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony (IPC section-153A). 1 candidate has declared a case related to deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings or any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs (IPC section-295A) and 2 candidates have declared cases related to injuring or defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class (IPC section-295).
8. Party wise candidates with criminal cases: 13 (22 %) out of 58 candidates from INC, 14 (35 %) out of 40 candidates from BJP, 10 (23%) out of 43 candidates from AAP, 21 (35 %) out of 60 candidates fielded by BSP and 26 (9 %) out of 292 Independent candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.
9. Party wise Candidates with Serious Criminal Cases: 10 (17%) out of 58 candidates from INC, 11 (28 %) out of 40 candidates from BJP, 6 (14 %) out of 43 candidates from AAP, 16 (27 %) out of 60 candidates fielded by BSP and 15 (5 %) out of 292 Independent candidates have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

Red Alert Constituencies:

 34 constituencies have at least 3 candidates with declared criminal cases. Muzaffarpur constituency in Bihar has the highest number of contesting candidates i.e. 7 with criminal cases against them. (Red Alert Constituencies are those which have 3 or more candidates with criminal cases contesting elections)

Financial Background

Crorepati candidates: -- Out of the 890 candidates analysed, 272 (31%) are crorepatis. Party-wise crorepati candidates: 44 (76 %) out of 58 candidates in INC, 28 (70 %) out of 40 candidates in BJP, 19 (44 %) out of 43 candidates in AAP, 22 (37 %) out of 60 candidates in BSP and 41 (14 %) out of 292 Independent candidates have declared assets worth more than Rs. 1 crore.

Average assets: -- The average asset per candidate contesting in the 8th phase of Lok Sabha 2014 elections is Rs.5.90 crore. Party-wise average assets: Among major parties, the average assets per candidate for 58 INC candidates is Rs 12.91 crore, 40 BJP candidates have average assets of Rs.17.32 crore, 43 AAP candidates have average assets worth of Rs 1.74 crore and 60 BSP candidates have average assets of Rs. 2.61 crore.

Party-wise asset rank:-- 43 (74 %) out of 58 INC candidates occupy the top three highest assets positions amongst all the contesting candidates in their respective constituencies. Similarly, 22 (55 %) out of 40 BJP candidates, 16 (27 %) out of 60 BSP candidates and 7 (16 %) out of 43 AAP candidates occupy the top three highest assets positions in their constituency.

Note: -- The following graph analyses the number of candidates fielded by political parties who have declared either the highest total assets in their constituency (among the candidates analysed for the constituency), or the second highest or the third highest. 16 candidates have declared more than Rs.50 crore worth of assets.

Top 3 richest candidates:

All top three richest candidates in the fray are from Andhra Pradesh.

1. - The TDP candidate from Guntur, Jayadev Galla has declared assets worth Rs 683 crore.
2. - The YSRCP candidate from Narasaraopet, Ayodhya Rami Reddy has declared assets worth Rs 654 crore.
3. - The BJP candidate from Narsapuram, Gokaraju Gangaraju has declared assets worth Rs 288 crore.

Candidates with zero assets: 11 candidates have declared their total assets as zero. Low asset candidates: A total of 44 candidates have declared assets less than Rs 50 thousand (excluding candidates who have declared zero assets). The three candidates with lowest assets are as follows: Candidates who have not declared Income Tax Details - 483 (54 %) Candidates out of 890 analysed have not declared income tax details. Some candidates may be exempted from filing Income Tax Returns.

Education and age:

1. 55 % candidates are graduates and above and 39 % are XII pass and below 2 % candidates are illiterates.
2. 53 % candidates are in the age group of 25 - 50 years and 34 % candidates are in the age group of 51 - 70 years. Two % candidates are above 70 years.
3. 90 % of the candidates are male and 10 % are female.

source:ibnlive

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