Nearly half of the candidates fielded by major political parties like the BJP, Congress, NCP, MNS and Shiv Sena for the Maharashtra Assembly polls have declared criminal cases against them, according to a survey by poll watchdog bodies.
Of the 1,318 candidates fielded by these five parties, 640, or 49 per cent, had criminal cases against them, said the study by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Maharashtra Election Watch.
This marked only a marginal decline from the figures for the last Maharashtra Assembly polls in 2009, when 50 per cent of the candidates of the five parties had criminal cases against them.
ADR said its findings were based on an analysis of the affidavits of 2,336 of the 4,119 candidates contesting the Maharashtra polls.
A total of 537 candidates—or 23 per cent—had “serious criminal cases” pending against them, including those related to murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, communal disharmony, crimes against women.
Among the five major parties, the Shiv Sena topped the list for candidates facing criminal cases with 169 candidates or 61 per cent, followed by 54 per cent from MNS, 53 per cent from BJP, 43 per cent from NCP, and 33 per cent from the Congress.
Among the candidates of the five parties with serious crimes against them, there are 12 charged with murder, 44 with attempted murder, 69 with crimes against women, 32 with kidnapping, 52 for robberies and 13 for communal disharmony.
The survey classified 156 of the 288 Assembly constituencies as “Red Alert” constituencies that have at least three or more candidates with criminal records.
'Superstar': People take photos as PM Narendra Modi arrives for a rally in Palghar, Maharashtra. Modi has been attacked by Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad for being good at nothing more than 'marketing'
Support: A sea of supporters at a Congress rally in Mewat, Haryana. Haryana and Maharashtra are preparing to vote in upcoming Assembly polls
In Mumbai, Kalina, Anushakti Nagar and Bandra east and Raigad’s Uran each had seven such candidates.
Both Maharashtra and Haryana will go to the polls on October 15 to choose new Assemblies.
However, a similar survey by ADR and Haryana Election Watch found that the number of candidates facing criminal charges in the state has declined since the last polls in 2009.
Of the 1,343 candidates surveyed in Haryana, 94 or only 7 per cent had declared criminal cases against them in their affidavits.
Only 70 candidates or 5 per cent were facing serious criminal charges like murder, attempted murder or crimes against women.
During the last polls, 109 of the 1,186 candidates or 9 per cent had declared criminal cases against them.
In Haryana, top politicians from all parties also reported a massive increase in their financial and material worth in the past five years.
A total of 380 candidates—32 per cent—in the 2009 Assembly polls were crorepatis, but the number of such candidates this time round has increased to 563 of the 1,351 aspirants in the fray, or 52 per cent.
Among the various parties, the top three in the fray—Congress, BJP and Indian National Lok Dal (INLD)—lead in the number of crorepati candidates. Ninety per cent of Congress candidates in the fray for 90 Assembly seats are crorepatis.
BJP confident of poll victory in Rajkot West
By Darshan Desai
The BJP seems set for victory from the Rajkot West Assembly constituency—a seat vacated by Gujarat Assembly Speaker Vajubhai Vala, who is now the Governor of Karnataka.
Campaigning for the constituency, which goes to polls on October 15, ended on Monday. The seat fell vacant after Vajubhai Vala, who had retained the seat since 1990, resigned after being appointed the governor.
Former Gujarat Assembly Speaker Vajubhai Vala (left) had vacated Rajkot West seat for the then new CM Narendra Modi (right) in 2002
The seat not only assumes significance as the Speaker relinquished it after being rewarded the governorship, but also because Prime Minister Narendra Modi contested his first-ever election from here—earlier called Rajkot II.
Vala, in February 2002, quit this seat that he won seven times to enable the then new Chief Minister Modi to run, after Gujarat’s firebrand leader (now late) Haren Pandya refused to give his Ellis Bridge slot in Ahmedabad city to Modi.
Rajkot West has been a saffron citadel right since 1967, seven years after Gujarat was carved out as a separate state in 1960.
It was Jansangh candidate and stalwart from the region Chimanbhai Shukla who used to win from here, followed by RSS senior and Rajkot’s first mayor Arvind Maniyar.
Later, Vajubhai Vala got elected for seven terms and Modi for one term in 2002. However, buoyed by its three victories from nine by-elections recently, the Congress seems to be in a mood to fight it out in this traditional saffron constituency, having fielded a senior Patel community leader and former minister, Jayanti Kalaria.
The septuagenarian Kalaria is pitted against Modi’s close aide and former Rajya Sabha member Vijay Rupani, who is contesting his first state Assembly election and falls much short of his Congress rival, given his caste.
The constituency has 2.9 lakh voters. Patels form nearly 55,000 of them, around 15,000 are Muslim while the rest are from other communities.
However, according to BJP leaders, this seat has been with the party for the nearly five decades irrespective of the caste of the candidate.
Attack: Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad launched a blistering attack against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said he was a 'superstar' in giving speeches and at 'marketing'
Vajubhai Vala’s Karadia Rajput community hardly constitutes 2,000 voters, but he won from here seven times, they argue.
Still, Vala won the last 2012 Assembly election by a margin of over 25,000 votes, the BJP leaders point out. Kalaria, 71, hails from a dyed-in-the-wool Congress family.
His father Bhagwanjibhai was a freedom fighter who later represented the party as an MLA from Upleta constitituency in Rajkot district from 1955 to 1962.
Kalaria himself won from the same seat between 1985 and 1990 and became a minister of state.
'Modiji is a superstar in giving speeches'
By Ganesh N.
Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Monday launched a blistering attack against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said he was a “superstar” in giving speeches and at “marketing”.
Talking to reporters in Mumbai, he said since the Congress was not able to market well the work done by it, the party could not achieve success in the Lok Sabha elections.
“The Congress is a superstar in doing work whereas Modiji is a superstar when it comes to giving speeches. Modiji and the BJP are good at marketing. But when it comes to doing work, they are a big zero,” Azad said.
Unable to overcome the massive defeat it faced in the general elections, he also remarked that (nowadays) people don’t like the work.
“We forget that nobody likes to do work,” he said.
Azad also alleged that the BJP had spent up to Rs 20,000 crore for their poll campaign for the Lok Sabha elections and said the Congress does not have that much money for marketing.
“We don’t even have Rs 20 lakh to do marketing of our work. We couldn’t do publicity. We know it is our weakness. The promises that were made by the BJP in its manifesto have not been fulfilled and it has not lived up to the expectation of people,” he said.
On the recent ceasefire violations at the LoC, Azad claimed: “When Modi became the PM, ceasefire violations started on the fourth day itself and since then for the last five months, this has been continuously on.”
