Sixty-one candidates fielded by the Congress party face serious criminal cases. The number of such candidates in Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is 23 while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has fielded 18 and BSP 16.
Pervez Bari | Clarion India
BHOPAL – Giving two hoots to the Supreme Court and the Election Commission concerns to stop the criminalisation of politics, almost all political parties in Madhya Pradesh have allotted tickets to candidates having criminal antecedents.
In 2020 the Supreme Court reiterated important provisions of its 2018 directive aimed at checking and discouraging candidates with criminal cases against them.
Besides asking political parties to show details of such candidates on various online and media platforms, the court had also asked political parties to explain why they chose candidates with criminal backgrounds. The apex court had observed that candidate selection should be based on merit, not “winnability”. It may be recalled here that the Election Commission had urged the Supreme Court to direct political parties not to give tickets to candidates with criminal backgrounds.
All injunctions and pleas of the apex court and the Election Commission not to criminalise politics have fallen on deaf ears of different political parties in Madhya Pradesh in the ensuing assembly elections. This may be equally true in other states too. In Madhya Pradesh, 61 candidates fielded by the Congress party face serious criminal cases. The number of such candidates in Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is 23 while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has fielded 18 and BSP 16.
The above statistics have been revealed in the report prepared by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), and Madhya Pradesh Election Watch (MPEW), after analysing self-sworn affidavits of all 2,534 candidates in the elections slated for November 17.
The report highlighted that the directions of the Supreme Court have had no effect on the political parties in the selection of candidates in the 2023 Madhya Pradesh Assembly Elections as they have again followed their old practice of giving tickets to around 19 per cent of candidates with criminal charges.
Of the 2,534 candidates, at least 19 per cent are facing criminal charges against 17 per cent out of the 2,716 candidates in 2018 polls, the report said.
Addressing a press conference here recently, Arun Gutru, an ADR member and ex-DGP (Director General Police, Madhya Pradesh) said they aimed at sensitising the Election Commission, political parties and the voters about various facts related to election contenders.
He further said that Congress has given maximum of 121 tickets to people with criminal cases followed by the BJP with 65 tickets. Out of 66 candidates fielded by AAP, 26 are facing criminal cases. Similarly, 23 out of 71 SP candidates and 22 out of 181 BSP candidates face criminal cases.
“Out of 2,534 candidates analysed, 711 are from national parties, 103 from state parties, 553 from registered unrecognised parties and 1,167 candidates are independent,” the report said.
The report further stated that “out of 2,534 candidates analysed, 472 (19 per cent) have declared criminal cases against them.” It highlighted that in the 2018 Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections, out of 2,716 candidates analysed, 464 (17 per cent) had declared criminal cases against themselves.
The report further said that 291 (11 per cent) have declared serious criminal cases. In the 2018 assembly elections, 295 (11 per cent) candidates had declared serious criminal cases against themselves.
The report further said that among the major parties, 61 (27 per cent) out of 230 candidates analysed from Congress, 23 (10 per cent) out of 230 candidates analysed from BJP, 18 (27 per cent) out of 66 candidates analysed from AAP and 16 (9 per cent) out of 181 candidates analysed from BSP have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.
The report further stated that 24 candidates have declared cases related to crime against women, including one candidate facing a rape case (IPC Section-376). Ten candidates are facing murder cases (IPC Section 302). While 17 candidates have declared cases related to attempts to murder (IPC Section 307) against themselves.
The report said that 79 (34 per cent) out of 230 are red alert constituencies. Red alert constituencies are those where three or more contesting candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves.
“At least 76 (33 per cent) constituencies in the 2018 elections had three or more candidates with declared criminal cases,” the report said.
BJP’s Chaitanya Kashyap Richest Candidate
Chaitanya Kashyap of the BJP is the richest candidate contesting the assembly elections. On the second place is BJP’s Sanjay Pathak followed by Congress candidate Sanjay Shukla. Together they have a total property of over Rs. 750 crore. At the top is Kayshap who has assets worth Rs. 296 crore, followed by Sanjay Pathak with Rs. 242 crore, and Congress candidate Shukla with Rs. 217 crore.
This report has also been prepared by ADR and MPEW which analysed the self-sworn affidavits of all 2,534 candidates in the poll fray.
Another member of the ADR, Ms Rolly Shivhare, said the motive of the ADR is to share the details of the assets of the would-be lawmakers with the common people. “People will come to know about the assets owned by contenders and the growth in their assets compared to the last election,” she said.
She added that in this election the average property of the contenders is Rs. 2.39 crore, while it was Rs. 1.73 crore in the 2018 election.
According to party-wise average assets, Congress is the richest, with an average of Rs 13.69 crore, followed by BJP (10.46 crore), AAP candidates have an average of 2.27 crore and BSP’s candidates have an average of Rs. 1.96 crore.
There are 1,110 candidates who have shown their liabilities in their affidavits. The maximum liability is shown by Congress candidate Nilay Daga contesting the election from Betul. He has a liability of Rs. 86 crore against assets worth Rs. 177 crore.
According to the Election Commission instructions, all candidates have to share their PAN numbers, but 216 candidates did not share their details.
