With Assembly election in Bihar merely three weeks away, political parties have started betting on potential winning candidates, including those with a criminal background. Data from the last three Assembly elections show that almost every party has relied on tainted candidates as crime appears to have a more electoral advantage.
In what can be seen as the large scale of criminalisation of politics in Bihar, an analysis of Assembly election 2015 in the state shows that 57 per cent of the serving MPs and MLAs and 30 per cent of the candidates for the election had declared criminal charges against themselves.
A report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Bihar Election Watch (BEW), which analysed the election affidavits of MPs, MLAs and candidates in Bihar, stated that in 2015 state Assembly election, five or more candidates with criminal records contested on 43 per cent of the total Assembly seats (243).
Candidates with criminal charges in demand
In 2005 and 2010, Nitish Kumar was swept into office on the promise of cleaning up Bihar's image from corruption and crime. Kumar was accompanied by a candidate like Anant Singh, a notorious don-turned-politician.
In 2015, Singh - popularly known as "Chhote Sarkar" - reached the Assembly as an independent candidate. Currently, the sitting MLA from Mokama, Singh is lodged in Bihar's Beur jail under an Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) case.
Singh, came out of jail on Wednesday to file his nomination from the Mokama seat on a Tejashwi Yadav led Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) ticket. According to the ADR report, Singh's affidavit declared that he faced 38 serious criminal cases, including seven of murder. and nine out of the total cases were added to his tally since the 2015 Assembly election.
Criminal cases against candidates: BJP, RJD top list
All the big parties - Bharatiya Janata Party, Janata Dal (United), RJD and Congress, consisted of more than 50 per cent tainted MLAs in the last two Bihar Assembly elections. In 2015, out of 81 RJD MLAs, 46 MLAs (64%) had criminal charges against them, followed by BJP - 36 out of 53 MLAs have a criminal background and JDU - which had 34 tainted MLAs in 71 seats.
Nearly 60 per cent (140) MLAs are facing criminal charges along with 94 MLAs, who have serious criminal charges in the outgoing Assembly of Bihar, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Bihar Election Watch data shows. The charges against these MLAs range from murder to rape - 11 are under murder charges, 30 under an attempt to murder and five for crimes against women, including one for rape.
Similarly, in 2010 Assembly elections 32 per cent candidates had criminal cases against them, whereas it was 27 per cent in the 2005 polls. In 2005 there were only 98 MLAs with criminal charges, this number rose to 23 per cent (121 MLAs) in 2010. The 2015 Assembly hosted 16 per cent more tainted MLAs than the previous Assembly.
Backdoor entry of relatives
To check the entry of criminals in politics, the Supreme Court in February 2020 made it mandatory for all political parties and candidates to provide the details of their criminal background to the public. In September 2020, the Election Commission of India issued an amended guideline for the parties to publish the details of criminal antecedents of their candidates.
EC also asked the political parties to provide reasons for their selection so that voters can make an informed choice. However, political observers are skeptical about the impact of these guidelines on the ground.
"Despite election commission regulation many people with criminal antecedents are still in the poll fray in the state directly or indirectly. People with criminal backgrounds find ways to bypass these rules and regulations via pushing their close relatives to contest the election on their seats," ADR and Bihar Election Watch convener Rajiv Kumar told India Today.
Wives of three such strongmen have been granted party tickets by RJD, including the wife of former MP Rama Singh - Veena Singh from the Mahnar seat. Neelam Devi Anant Singh’s wife has filed a nomination as Independent from the same seat as Singh.
Bihar Assembly election, scheduled to be held on October 28, November 3 and 7, will be a test case to witness the impact of these initiatives.
