In a concerning revelation, a report by ADR and National Election Watch has noted an alarming prevalence of criminal cases among candidates contesting polls…reports Asian Lite News
Around 23 per cent of candidates of the second phase of Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh are facing criminal cases, while 46 per cent of candidates are crorepatis.
According to a joint report released here on Tuesday by Uttar Pradesh Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), they analyzed affidavits of all 91 candidates contesting from eight constituencies in the second phase of the polls in the northern state.
The seats going to polls in the second phase are Aligarh, Amroha, Baghpat, Bulandshahr, Gautambudh Nagar, Ghaziabad, Mathura and Meerut. The polling of the second phase will be held on April 26.
The report says 23 percent out of 91 candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves, out of which 18 per cent are facing serious criminal charges.
Party-wise details of candidates who have declared criminal cases against themselves are — Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) with three out of eight (38%), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) two out of seven (29%), and the Samajwadi Party’s (SP) all four candidates (100%). The Congress has two out of four candidates (50%), and Rashtriya Shoshit Samaj Party two out of three candidates (67%) with criminal cases registered against them.
Serious criminal cases declared by candidates include 25% of BSP, 29% of BJP, 50% of SP, 50% of Congress, and 33% of Rashtriya Shoshit Samaj Party.
Pandit Keshavdev Gautam, who is contesting as an independent candidate from Aligarh, has five criminal cases registered against him. Next is Amarpal, the Samajwadi Party candidate from Baghpat. He has nine criminal cases registered against him, while Haji Afzal, with two cases, is at the third position, who is contesting as an Independent from Meerut.
Talking about crorepati candidates, 42 out of 91 (46%) candidates fall in this bracket. All eight candidates of the BSP, seven of the BJP, four of the SP, two of the Jai Hind National, one of the Samaj Vikas Kranti Party, and three out of four candidates of the Congress (75%) fall under this income bracket.
The report also said that the average asset of the candidates is Rs 10.05 crore. Among the main parties, the average asset of eight candidates of the BSP is around Rs 10.75 crore, while that of seven candidates of the BJP is Rs 91.23 crore. The average asset of four candidates of the SP is around Rs 17.34 crore and that of four Congress candidates is Rs 3.56 crore.
UP Election Watch state convenor Santosh Srivastava said among the candidates in the second phase of Lok Sabha elections, Hema Malini, who is contesting on BJP ticket from Mathura, whose assets are around Rs 278 crore and similarly Satish Kumar Gautam, BJP candidate from Aligarh has assets worth Rs 16 crores. Devbrath contested from the Meerut Lok Sabha seat on Bahujan Samaj Party ticket, whose assets are around Rs 5 crores.
In the second phase of Lok Sabha elections in UP, 33 out of 91 (36%) candidates have declared their educational qualification between 5th and 12th. Whereas 52 (57 percent) candidates have declared their educational qualification as Graduation and above. Two candidates have declared his/her educational qualification as Diploma holders. Two candidates have declared their educational qualification as literate and 2 candidates have declared their educational qualification as illiterate.
Talking about the age of the candidates in the second phase, 31 out of 91 (34 percent) candidates have declared their age between 25 to 40 years, while 42 (46 percent) candidates have declared their age between 41 to 60 years while 18 (20 percent) candidates have declared their age between 61 to 80 years.
A total of 9 (10 percent) women candidates are contesting in the second phase of Uttar Pradesh Lok Sabha elections 2024.
Chief Convener UP Election Watch ADR Sanjay Singh said that literate and intelligent people are still trying their luck in the country’s largest Parliament. He said that on one hand literacy is continuously increasing in the country. But such candidates are still seen in the country’s largest parliament. Despite many important orders of the Supreme Court, all the parties showed no hesitation in fielding candidates with criminal tendencies. It is clear that if any criminal is being given a ticket then the reason for the same will have to be explained and the reasons will have to be published in the media as well.
The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch have analyzed the self-sworn affidavits of 1,618 candidates out of the 1,625 candidates contesting the elections in Phase 1 on April 19.
Furthermore, the report highlights that 42 out of the 102 Lok Sabha seats slated for Phase 1 are contested by three or more candidates facing criminal charges. Additionally, 18 candidates have declared cases related to crimes against women, including one candidate facing a rape charge under section 376 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
ALSO READ-Chamoli voters to boycott polls over lack of roads
