Delhi : Only 11 percent of the 904 candidates contesting in the seventh phase of the Lok Sabha elections are women, 22 percent candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves while 33 percent of the candidates are 'crorepatis', the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) said in a latest report.
The ADR along with the National Election Watch have made the revelation based on the analysis of the self-sworn affidavits of 904 candidates, who are contesting in the seventh phase.
According to the ADR report, a total of 190 candidates accounting for 22 percent of the candidates have declared criminal cases against them in the affidavits. The report said that four candidates declared cases related to murder, 27 face charges of attempt to murder and 13 candidates have criminal cases related to crimes against women, with 2 amongst these 13 facing charges of rape and 25 face charges related to hate speech.
Party wise, the report said that 6 (67%) out of 9 candidates who have declared serious criminal cases are from Samajwadi Party, 4 (50%) out of 8 from CPI(M), 18 (35%) out of 51 from BJP, 3 (33%) out of 9 candidates from AITC, 2(33%) out of 6 from BJD, 4(31%) out of 13 from SAD, 4 (31%) out of 13 from AAP, 7 (23%) out of 31 from INC, 10 (18%) out of 56 from BSP and 1 (14%) out of 7 candidates from CPI.
"The directions of the Supreme Court have had no effect on the political parties in selection of candidates in the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 Phase 7 as they have again followed their old practice of giving tickets to around 22% candidates with criminal cases", it said.
Financial background: In terms of the candidates' financial backgrounds, the report said that out of the 904 candidates, 299 (33%) are crorepatis. Amongst them, 111 have total assets of more than Rs 5 crore, 84 have assets between Rs 2-5 crore, 224 have between Rs 50 lakhs- 2 crores, 257 have between Rs 10-50 lakhs and 228 have assets worth less than Rs 10 lakhs.
The richest candidate in the fray is Harsimrat Kaur Badal from SAD contesting from Bathinda, Punjab who has assets more than Rs 198 crore followed by Baijayant Panda from Odisha and Sanjay Tandon from Chandigarh, both from BJP who have assets worth Rs 148 crore+ and Rs 111 crore+ respectively.
The average assets per candidate contesting in this phase is Rs. 3.27 crores. Among major parties, the average assets per candidate for 13 SAD candidates is Rs. 25.68 crores, 51 BJP candidates is Rs. 18.86 crores, 9 SP candidates is Rs. 14.23 crores, 31 INC candidates is Rs 12.59 crores, 13 AAP candidates have average assets of Rs 7.62 crores, 6 BJD candidates have average assets worth Rs 6.61 crores, 9 AITC candidates have average assets worth Rs 4.10 crores, 56 BSP candidates have average assets worth Rs 2.26 crores, 8 CPI(M) candidates have average assets worth Rs 1.18 crores and 7 CPI candidates have average assets of Rs 75.04 lakhs.
The three top most candidates with lowest assets are Bhanumati Das (Utkal Samaj Party) from Odisha having Rs 1500, Rajiv Kumar Mehra (Jan Sewa Driver Party) from Punjab and Balaram Mandal from West Bengal who is an independent each having Rs 2500 each.
Educational background and age-group: According to the report, 402 (44%) candidates have declared their educational qualifications to be between 5th and 12th standard while 430 (48%) candidates have declared educational qualifications of graduate or above. 20 candidates are diploma holders, 26 candidates have declared themselves to be just literate and 24 candidates are illiterates. While, two candidates have not given their educational qualification.
In terms of age group, 243 (27%) candidates have declared their age to be between 25 to 40 years while the maximum of the candidates are between 41-60 years with 481 such candidates amounting to 53%. There are 177 (20%) candidates who have declared their age to be between 61 to 80 years. While, three candidates have declared their age to be above 80 years.
