213 with criminal cases, 401 crorepatis to contest first phase of Lok Sabha elections

India starts voting in the first phase of elections to the Lok Sabha later this week. Who are the richest candidates contesting in the first round? Which parties have fielded the most number of candidates with pending criminal cases? How serious are the allegations against them?

The National  Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) have analysed the self-sworn affidavits of 1266 out of 1279 candidates who are contesting the Lok Sabha Phase I. Out of the 1266 the candidates, 213 (17%) have declared criminal cases against themselves. 146 candidates have records of serious criminal cases, out of which 10 have declared cases related to murder. 401 of them are crorepati candidates.

There are 13 candidates who have not been analysed due to unavailability of their properly scanned and complete affidavits, at the time of making this report.

Criminal background

    •   213(17%) out of 1266 candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves.
    •   146(12%) out of 1266 have declared serious criminal cases against themselves.
    •   12 candidates have declared convicted cases against themselves.
    •   10 candidates have declared cases related to murder (IPC Section -302) against themselves.
    •  25 candidates have declared cases related to attempt to murder (IPC Section 307) against themselves

Kidnapping, crimes against women and hate speech

Four candidates have declared cases related to kidnapping such kidnapping for ransom, etc. (IPC Section-364A), kidnapping or abducting in order to murder (IPC Section-364), Kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman to compel her marriage, etc. (IPC Section-366) etc, against themselves.

16 candidates have declared cases related to crime against women such as rape (IPC Section-376),  assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty (IPC Section-354), husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty (IPC Section-498A), etc., against themselves.

12 candidates have declared cases related to hate speech against themselves.

Figure: Major Party Wise Percentage of Candidates with Declared Criminal Cases

Party-wise candidates with declared criminal and serious criminal cases

Among the major parties, 30(36%) out of 83 candidates from BJP, 35(42%) out of 83 candidates from INC, 8(25%) out of 32 candidates are  BSP, 13(52%) out of 25 candidates from YSRCP, 4(16%) out of 25 candidates from TDP and 5(29%) out of 17 candidates from TRS have declared criminal cases against themselves.

Among the major parties, 16(19%) out of 83 candidates from BJP, 22(27%) out of 83 candidates from INC, 4(13%) out of 32 candidates from BSP, 10(40%) out of 25 candidates from YSRCP, 2(8%) out of 25 candidates from TDP and 3(18%) out of 17 candidates from TRS have declared serious criminal cases against themselves.

Red Alert constituencies  

37 out of 91 constituencies are red alert constituencies. Red alert constituencies are those constituencies where 3 or more contesting candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves.

Crorepati candidates

There are 401(32%) candidates who have assets worth Rs. 1 crore and more. Among the major parties 69(83%) out of 83 candidates from INC, 65(78%) out of 83 candidates from BJP, 15(47%) out of 32 candidates from BSP, 25(100%) candidates from TDP, 22(88%) out of 25 candidates from YSRCP and 17 (100%) candidates from TRS have declared assets worth more than Rs. 1 crore.

The average asset per candidate contesting in the Lok Sabha phase I election is Rs. 6.63 crores.

Among major parties, the average assets per candidate for 83 INC candidates is Rs. 21.93 crores, 83 BJP candidates is Rs 14.56 crores, 32 BSP candidates have average assets of Rs 12.63 crores, 25 YSRCP candidates have average assets worth Rs 62.94 crores, 25 TDP candidates have average assets worth Rs 57.77 crores, and 17 TRS candidates have average assets of Rs 45.87 crores

High asset candidates

The details of the top 3 candidates with the highest assets are given below :

Name State Constituency Party Name Movable Assets (Rs) Immovable Assets (Rs) Total Assets (Rs) PAN Given
Konda Vishweshwar Reddy TELANGANA CHEVELLA INC 8,56,38,18,770 38,63,60,400 8,95,01,79,170

895 Crore+

Y
Prasad Veera Potluri ANDHRA PRADESH VIJAYAWADA YSRCP 2,36,29,66,326 1,11,46,50,000 3,47,76,16,326

347 Crore+

Y
Kanumuru Raghu Rama Krishna Raju ANDHRA PRADESH NARSAPURAM YSRCP 1,98,90,22,378 1,27,03,83,000 3,25,94,05,378

325 Crore+

Y

PAN details and high income as declared in the ITR

114 candidates have not given PAN details. There are 33 candidates who have declared their annual total income** to be more than Rs. 1 crore.  690 (55%) candidates have not declared their income tax details. There are 70 candidates with assets worth more than Rs. 1 crore who have not declared their ITR details.Some Candidates may be exempted from filing ITR. As per section 10 (26) of IT Act 1961, a member of ST residing in specific area of in Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura or Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir is exempt from paying IT.

Education, age and gender

526(42%) candidates have declared their educational qualification to be between 5th and 12th, while 619 (49%) candidates have declared having educational qualification of graduate or above. 19 candidates have declared to be just literate and 66 candidates are illiterate.

Age details of candidates: 411(32%) candidates have declared their age to be between 25 to 40 years while 671 (53%) candidates have declared their age to be between 41 to60 years.  There are 172(14%) candidates who have declared their age to be between 61 to 80 years. 2 candidates have declared their age to be above 80 years. 10 candidates have not given their age.

Gender details of candidates: 89(7%) female candidates are contesting in the Lok Sabha Phase I elections.

For the complete report, please visit: https://adrindia.org/content/lok-sabha-elections-2019-phase-i-analysis-criminal-background-financial-education-gender-0

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