New Delhi: National Election Watch (NEW) and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) have analysed the self-sworn affidavits of 601 candidates out of 606 candidates who are contesting in the phase 9 of Lok Sabha 2014 elections. The rest of the candidates were not analysed due to unclear/incomplete affidavits uploaded on the ECI website at the time of making of this report. 41 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal will be voting in the last phase on May 12.

119 candidates (20 pc) have declared criminal cases against them and 92 of them are facing serious criminal cases (15 pc). 171 candidates are crorepatis (28 pc) and average assets of the candidate is Rs 8.5 crore.

Candidates with criminal cases: Out of the 601 candidates analysed, 119 (20 pc) candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves.

Candidates with serious criminal cases: 92(15 pc) candidates have declared serious criminal cases including cases related to murder, attempt to murder, communal disharmony, kidnapping, crimes against women etc.

Candidates with cases related to murder: 11 candidates have declared cases related to murder.

Candidates with cases related to attempt to murder: 25 candidates have declared cases of attempt to murder.

Candidates with cases related to crimes against women: Seven candidates have declared cases related to crimes against women. Manoj Kumar of Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party from Domariyaganj constituency, Uttar Pradesh and Dhananjay Singh an Independent candidate from Jaunpur constituency, Uttar Pradesh have each declared a case of rape (IPC Section-376).3 candidates have declared a case related to assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty (IPC Section-354) , one candidate with case related to husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty (IPC Section-498A) and two candidates with cases related to word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman (IPC Section-509). A candidate may have declared more than one IPC related to crimes against women.

Candidates with cases related to causing communal disharmony: 4 candidates have declared cases related to causing communal disharmony. These cases relate to promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony (IPC Section-153A), Injuring or defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class (IPC Section-295) and deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings or any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs (IPC Section-295A). A candidate may have declared more than one IPC related to communal disharmony.

Candidates with cases related to robbery and dacoity: Nine candidates have declared cases related to robbery and dacoity. Seven candidates have declared cases related to dacoity (IPC Section-395). Two candidates have declared cases related to robbery (IPC Section-392) and five candidates have declared cases related to robbery, or dacoity, with attempt to cause death or grievous hurt (IPC Section-397). A candidate may have declared more than one IPC related to robbery and dacoity.

Candidates with cases related to kidnapping: Four candidates have declared cases related to kidnapping or abducting in order to murder (IPC Section-364). One candidate has declared a case related to kidnapping (IPC Section-363) and one candidate has a case related to kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman to compel her marriage, etc. (IPC Section-366). (A candidate may have declared more than one IPC related to kidnapping)

Party wise candidates with criminal cases: 12 (32 pc) out of 37 candidates from INC, 14(36 pc) out of 39 candidates from BJP, 4 (16 pc) out of 25 candidates from AAP, 12 (30 pc) out of 40 candidates fielded by BSP and 17 (11 pc) out of 153 Independent candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

Party wise candidates with serious criminal cases: Eight (22 pc) out of 37 candidates from the Congress, 11 (28 pc) out of 39 candidates from BJP, 3 (12 pc) out of 25 candidates from AAP, 10(25 pc) out of 40 candidates fielded by BSP and 11 (7 pc) out of 153 Independent candidates have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

Red alert constituencies: 21 constituencies have at least three candidates with declared criminal cases. Vaishali constituency, Bihar has the highest number of contesting candidates i.e. 10 with criminal cases against them.

(Red Alert Constituencies are those which have 3 or more candidates with criminal cases contesting elections)

Financial Background

Crorepati candidates: Out of the 601 candidates analysed , 171 (28 pc) are crorepatis.

Party- wise crorepati candidates: 18 (49 pc) out of 37 candidates in the Congress, 23 (59 pc) out of 39 candidates in BJP, 12 (48 pc) out of 25 candidates in AAP, 18 (45 pc) out of 40 candidates in BSP and 20 (13 pc) out of 153 Independent candidates have declared assets worth more than Rs 1 crore.

Average Assets: The average assets per candidate contesting in the 9th phase of Lok Sabha 2014 elections is Rs 8.50 crores.

Party-wise Average Assets: Among major parties, the average assets per candidate for 37 Congress candidates is Rs 2.79 crores, 39 BJP candidates have average assets of Rs 2.81 crores,25 AAP candidates have average assets worth of Rs 1.82 crores and 40 BSP candidates have average assets of Rs 7.20 crores.

Party-wise asset rank: 20 (54 pc) out of 37 Congress candidates occupy the top three highest assets positions amongst all the contesting candidates in their respective constituencies. Similarly, 17 (44 pc) out of 39 BJP candidates, 14 (35 pc) out of 40 BSP candidates and 8 (32 pc) out of 25 AAP candidates occupy the top three highest assets positions in their constituency.

High asset candidates: 25 candidates have declared more than Rs 10 crores worth of assets. The top three candidates with highest assets are given below -

Top three richest candidates:

- Shamali Das, Independent candidate from Jadavpur and Kolkata Dakshin is the richest in the fray with declared assets worth Rs 2000 crore.

- Filmmaker Prakash Jha, JDU candidate from Pashchim Champaran has declared assets worth Rs 92 crore.

- Shah Alam alias Guddu Jamali, BSP candidate from Azamgarh has declared assets worth Rs 70 crore.

Candidate with zero assets: Sougata Ghosh an Independent candidate from Diamond Harbour constituency, West Bengal has declared that he has zero assets.

Low asset candidates: A total of 36 candidates have declared assets less than Rs 50,000 (excluding candidates who have declared zero assets).

Income Tax details

Candidates who have not declared Income Tax details: 317(53 pc) candidates out of 601 analyzed have not declared income tax details.

Candidates with high assets who have not declared Income Tax details: 24 candidates with assets worth more than Rs 1 crore, have not declared Income Tax details.

Education, age & gender

56 per cent candidates are graduates and above. 41 per cent are 12th pass and below and 1 per cent candidates are illiterate.

61 per cent candidates are in the age group of 25-50 years and 35 per cent are in the age group of 51 - 70 years. 4 per cent are above 71 years.

90 per cent candidates are male and just 10 per cent candidates are female.