A little more than a fifth of the canddiates contesting the May 10 assembly polls in Karnataka are fighting criminal cases marking a jump since the last election in 2018, the Association of democratic reform (ADR) said on Wednesday.
About 22% of the candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves, compared to 15% in the 2018 assembly polls, ADR founder-trustee Trilochan Sastry stold a media conference after releasing a report the nonprofit has prepared based on the declarations made by canddiates in their affidavits.
The report analysed 2,586 candidates, of which 581 were facing criminal charges. Out of these, 404 candidates have declared serious criminal charges against themselves - which is about 16% of the total. In 2018, 10% candidates were facing serious criminal charges.
The ADR has found that out of these candidates, 49 are facing charges related to crime against women. One candidate is facing rape charges. Eight candidates have been charged with murder, and 35 with attempted murder.
According to the report, 55% of Congress candidates, 43% of BJP and 34% of Janata Dal Secular (JDS) candidates had declared criminal cases against themselves. All of the figures are higher than the ones in 2018.
In 2018, the organisation had identified 56 constituencies as ‘Red Alert’ - where three or more candidates were facing criminal charges. In the ongoing elections, 111 constituencies - half of the total 224 - are Red Alert.
The Representation of People Act, 1951, bars convicted persons from contesting elections unless the sentence is stayed by a court. However, people under trial are still allowed to contest.
In Fepuary 2020, the Supreme Court had directed parties to give reasons for selecting such candidates. “Political parties give unfounded and baseless reasons like popularity of the person, good social work, cases are politically motivated etc. These are not sound and cogent reasons for fielding candidates with tainted backgrounds,” said the report. The data, states the report, shows that political parties have no interest in reforming the electoral system.
Financial backgrounds:
Along with criminal cases filed, the report also analysed the candidates financial backgrounds. It found that 42% - 1,087 out of 2,586 - candidates were crorepatis, compared to 35% in 2018. The average assets per candidate was found to be Rs 12.26 crore, compared to Rs 7.5 crore in 2018.
The Congress and the BJP are neck and neck in fielding wealthy candidates, with 97% and 96% crorepatis in their candidate lists respectively. The JDS is fielding 82% crorepatis.
Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president has lost his top spot in the rich candidates list. He is now the third-richest, with assets worth about Rs 1,413 crore.
The richest candidate is Yousuf Shariff, from the Congress, with assets worth more than Rs 1,633 crore. He is contesting from Chickpet in Bengaluru. Shariff is closely followed by N Nagaraju of the BJP with assets worth about Rs 1,609 crore. He is contesting from Hosakote.
Gender disparity:
Even though all the parties have announced schemes for women empowerment in their manifestos, their sentiments do not seem to have translated politically. Only 7% of the contestants are women, compared to 8% in 2018.
The National Congress Party from Maharashtra is fielding the highest proportion of women at 22%. The BJP and the Congress have 5% women candidates each, while 6% of the JDS’ candidates are women.
