Merchandise of different political parties are displayed for sale at a shop ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha election, in Patna, Wednesday, April 3, 2024.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: In the second phase of Lok Sabha elections, one in seven candidates have serious criminal cases registered against them, while one in every three candidates is a crorepati, according to an analysis by the private election watchdog Association for Democratic Rights (ADR).
In its analysis of 1,192 out of the 1,198 candidates contesting in the second phase of Lok Sabha polls scheduled for April 26, ADR identified 167 candidates facing serious criminal charges. These charges include three candidates with murder cases, 24 with attempted murder cases, 25 with cases related to crimes against women (including one rape case), and 21 cases related to hate speech. Notably, 32 of these candidates have already been convicted of these charges.
The distribution of candidates with serious criminal cases across different parties is as follows: Shiv Sena (UBT) has 1 such candidate, JD(U) has 1, SP has 2, CPI has 3, CPI(M) has 7, BJP has 21, and Congress has 22. Additionally, there are 45 constituencies designated as 'Red Alert' where three or more candidates with criminal cases are contesting in the upcoming elections.
The ADR report also noted that there are 390 crorepati candidates contesting in the second phase, with the BJP leading with 64 candidates in this category, followed closely by Congress with 62 candidates.
Other parties with significant numbers of crorepati candidates include CPI(M) with 12, JD(U) with 5, Shiv Sena (UBT) with 4, Samajwadi Party (SP) with 4, and Trinamool Congress (TMC) with 4. Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena has 3 crorepati candidates, while the CPI has 2 such candidates in this phase.
The average assets of candidates contesting in the upcoming elections stand at Rs 5.17 crore. Among the major parties, the Congress candidates report the highest average assets at Rs 39.70 crore, followed by BJP candidates at Rs 24.68 crore, SP at Rs 17.34 crore, Shiv Sena (UBT) at Rs 12.81 crore, Shiv Sena at Rs 7.54 crore, Trinamool Congress at Rs 4.16 crore, JD(U) at Rs 3.31 crore, CPI(M) at Rs 2.29 crore, and CPI at Rs 78.44 lakh.
Among the wealthiest candidates in this phase are Congress' Mandya nominee Star Chandru with assets worth Rs 622.97 crore, Bangalore Rural candidate D K Suresh with Rs 593.05 crore, and BJP's Mathura candidate Hema Malini with Rs 278.93 crore in assets.
On the other end of the spectrum, an independent candidate in Nanded with assets worth just Rs 500 is among the candidates with the least declared assets, followed by Rajeswari K R from Kasaragod with Rs 1,000 and Adv. Pruthvi Samrat Mukundrao Dipwansh from Amravati with Rs 1,400.
Other details
Education:
533: Between Class 5 and 12
574: Graduate or above
37: Diploma
37: Just literate
8: Illiterates
3: Not Given
Age
363: 25-40 years
578: 41-60 years
249: 61-80 years
2: Above 80 years
(Source: Association for Democratic Rights)