National Election Watch (NEW) and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), the agencies involved in political reforms at national level, have found that 28 per cent of the candidates from across the country have a criminal background, of which 10 per cent have serious criminal cases against them.
NEW and ADR have analysed the self-sworn affidavits of 1,566 candidates out of the 1,594 candidates who are contesting in the Phase 1 to Phase 4 of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The rest of the candidates were not analysed due to unclear or incomplete affidavits available on the ECI website.
The report finds that out of the 1,566 candidates analysed, 278 candidates (18 per cent) have declared criminal cases against themselves. Most importantly, 155 (10 per cent) candidates have declared that there are serious criminal cases, including cases related to murder, rape, and robbery, filed against them.
Party-wise, the report has found that 23 (25 per cent) out of 92 candidates fielded by INC, 38 (39 per cent) out of 97 candidates from BJP, 15 (16 per cent) out of 92 fielded by AAP and 16 (18 per cent) out of 89 BSP candidates have criminal cases against them. As far as serious criminal cases are concerned, 14 (15 per cent) out of 92 candidates fielded by INC, 22 (23 per cent) out of 97 candidates from BJP, 10 (11 per cent) out of 92 fielded by AAP and 9 (10 per cent) out of 89 BSP candidates have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.
Preeti Sharma Menon, spokesperson of AAP said, “Please see the nature of the cases. Our leaders have been booked for raising their voice against atrocity or obstructing police officials during a protest. We have not given ticket to even a single candidate who has cases of domestic violence or such nature registered against them.” Some of the prominent leaders who have disclosed the cases against them are Mayank Gandhi, Megha Patkar, Maruti Bhapkar, etc.
ADR also analysed 200 candidates from Maharashtra and found that 36 candidates in the fray have criminal cases against them, out of which 19 candidates have serious criminal cases.