Some
political parties announced their first list of candidates for Lok Sabha, 2014
recently. A total of 203 candidates were announced by various political parties
as on 2nd March, 2014. Out of these 70 candidates had contested
assembly or Lok Sabha/Rajya Sabha elections in the past. Association for
Democratic Reforms and National Election Watch checked the records of these 70
candidates through the affidavits submitted by them during previous elections. The latest information regarding
assets as well as criminal charges if any, would be available once the candidates
file their affidavits for 2014 Lok Sabha Elections.
Criminal:
Candidates
with Criminal Cases: Out of 70 candidates
analysed, 34 candidates (49%) had
declared in total 224 criminal cases
against themselves in their previous election affidavit. Shiv Sena has 12 out of 14
candidates (86%) with criminal cases, BJP
has 13 out of 32 (41%) candidates
with criminal cases, NCP has 8 out of 13
(62%) candidates with criminal cases and AIADMK has 1 out of 6 (17%) candidates with criminal cases.
Candidates
with Serious Criminal Cases: 20 candidates (29%) out of 70 analysed
had declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their previous
election affidavits. 7 out of 14 (50%)
candidates of Shiv Sena have declared serious criminal cases against
themselves, 5 out of 13 (38%) candidates
of NCP, 7 out of 32 (22%) candidates
of BJP and 1 out of 6 (17%) candidates
of AIADMK have declared serious criminal cases against themselves.
Candidates with Cases of
Murder and related: 4 candidates had declared cases of murder, attempt to
murder and related in their previous election affidavits. Bhonsle Shrimant Chh.
Udyanraje Pratapsinh (Sitting MP) of NCP from Satara Constituency had declared
a charge of murder. Two candidates of Shiv Sena, Eknath Shinde (Sitting MLA,
Maharashtra) from Kalyan Constituency and Shivajirao Adhalrao Patil (Sitting
MP) from Shirur Constituency had declared a charge of Attempt to Murder. Dhananjay
Mahadik of NCP from Kolhapur Constituency had declared a charge related to culpable
homicide by causing death of person other than person whose death was intended.
Candidate with cases of
Dacoity: Dr. Kirit Somaiya of BJP from Mumbai North East Constituency
had declared a charge of dacoity against himself.
Candidates with cases of
Kidnapping and related: 3 candidates had declared cases related to kidnapping
in their previous election affidavits. Bhonsle Shrimant Chh. Udyanraje
Pratapsinh (Sitting MP) of NCP from Satara Constituency and Gopinath Munde of
BJP from Beed Constituency declared a case related to kidnapping. Chandrakant
Khaire (Sitting MP) of Shiv Sena from Aurangabad Constituency declared a case
related to wrongful confinement.
Candidates with cases
related to electoral violations: Sanjay Jadhav (Sitting MLA)
of Shiv Sena from Parbhani Constituency had declared 2 charges related to
Illegal payments in connection with an election and 1 charge related to failure
to keep election accounts in his previous election affidavit.
Financial:
Average Assets of
Candidates: The average assets of 70 candidates analysed is Rs. 5.76
crores.
Party-wise average assets:
The average assets of 13 NCP candidates is Rs. 17.10 crores
followed by 5 candidates of SAD with average assets of Rs. 16.30 crores, 14
candidates of Shiv Sena with average assets of Rs 2.16 crores, 32 candidates of
BJP with average assets of Rs. 1.81 crores and 6 candidates of AIADMK with
average assets of Rs. 1.89 crores.
No. of crorepati
candidates: Out of 70 candidates, 36 candidates (51%) have declared
total assets (Self assets +Others Assets) of more than 1 crore.
Party-wise crorepati
candidates: 4 out of 5 candidates (80%) in SAD followed by 9 out of 13
(69%) candidates in NCP, 9 out of 14 (64%) candidates in Shiv Sena, 13 out of
32 (41%) candidates in BJP and 1 out of 6 (17%) candidates in AIADMK have
declared total assets worth more than 1 crore.
High Asset Candidates: Praful Patel
(Sitting MP) of NCP from Bhandara-Gondiya Constituency has declared the highest
assets among the 70 candidates analysed, worth Rs. 125.46 crores followed by Harsimrat
Kaur Badal (Sitting MP) of SAD from Bathinda Constituency with assets worth Rs.
60.31 crores and Supriya Sule (Sitting MP) of NCP from Baramati constituency
with assets worth Rs. 50.45 crores.
Analysis of Criminal and Financial Background of Re-contesting MPs
Re-contesting
MPs: Out of the 70 candidates analysed, 29 candidates are sitting Lok Sabha
MPs.
Re-contesting
MPs with Criminal Cases: Out of 29 re-contesting Lok Sabha MPs, 18 (62%) had declared criminal
cases against themselves in their previous election affidavit.
Re-contesting
MPs with Serious Criminal Cases: Out of 29 re-contesting Lok Sabha MPs, 10 (34%) had
declared serious criminal cases against themselves.
Average
Assets of Re-contesting MPs: The average assets of 29 re-contesting MPs is Rs. 10.99
crores.
No.
of crorepati Re-contesting MPs: Out of 29 re-contesting MPs, 18 (62%) had declared
assets worth more than 1 crore in their previous election affidavits.
The current analysis of the candidates fielded by some of the political parties in their 1st list shows that political parties continue to give tickets to candidates with serious criminal cases. The Association for Democratic Reforms recommends that political parties should refrain from giving tickets to candidates with a serious criminal background. The political parties should take a stand against misuse of money power, bribing of voters and distribution of freebies. Further, the political parties should move towards transparency and disclose the criteria for selection of candidates during elections.
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