Around 27 per cent of candidates in the sixth phase of assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh have criminal records while 38 per cent are crorepatis.
Uttar Pradesh election watchdog, Association for Democratic Reform (ADR) analysed the affidavits of 670 out of 676 candidates in the fray contesting from 57 constituencies in Purvanchal in the sixth phase of the assembly elections.
According to the ADR report released on Thursday, of the 670 candidates, 182 or 27 per cent candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves and 151, or 23 per cent, have cases of heinous crimes registered against them.
A total of 40 out of 48, or 83 per cent, of the Samajwadi Party, 23 out of 52, or 44 per cent, of Bharatiya Janata Party, 22 out of 56, or 39 per cent, of Congress, 22 out of 57, or 39 per cent, of the BSP and seven out of 51, or 14 per cent, of Aam Aadmi Party candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves.
Serious criminal cases are against 29 out of 48 or 60 per cent of SP, 20 out of 52 or 39 per cent of the BJP, 20 out of 56 or 36 per cent of the Congress, 18 out of 57 or 32 per cent of the BSP and five out of 51 or 10 per cent AAP candidates as declared by the candidates themselves.
In the criminal cases declared by the candidates in the sixth phase, Sudhir Singh, a BSP candidate from Sahjanwa assembly seat of Gorakhpur, has 27 cases registered against him (26 serious cases). At the second place is Ashok Chauha of the BJP from Khadda assembly seat of Kushinagar against whom 23 cases (serious cases 19) are registered and at the third place is Chandra Shekhar Ravan from Gorakhpur assembly constituency of Azad Samaj Party, with 22 registered cases (severe charges in 16).
Of the crorepati candidates, out of the 670, 253 or 38 per cent candidates are crorepatis in the sixth phase polling. The SP has 45 out of 48 or per cent, BJP 42 or 81 per cent, BSP 44 out of 57 or 77 per cent, Congress 26 out of 56 or 46 per cent, and AAP 14 out of 51 or 28 per cent crorepati candidates and the declared assets are more than Rs 1 crore.
Among the top three candidates who declared maximum assets, in the first place is SP candidate from Chillupar seat, Vinay Shankar Tiwario, who has declared his assets at Rs 67 crore. He is followed by Rakesh Pandey of SP from Jalalpur assembly seat of Ambedkar Nagar with assets worth Rs 63 crore. At the third place is BSP candidate Uma Shankar Singh from Rasra assembly seat of Ballia, who has assets worth Rs 54 crore.
The average asset of candidates in the sixth phase of assembly election is Rs 2.10 crore.
