The story of Uttar Pradesh in the third phase of the assembly elections is no different from phase-II polls. One hundred and twenty one candidates out of the 317 have criminal candidates pending against them. Vicky Najappa reports.
The Association for Democratic Reforms and the National Election in its report states that 38 per cent of the candidates have criminal records against them. This is a shameful figure as in 2007 there were 28 per cent criminals for the whole of Uttar Pradesh.
Among these 121 candidates, Brikesh Singh (Pragatisheel Manav Samaj Party), contesting from Saiyadraja constituency has the maximum number of criminal cases. He has declared 39 criminal cases including 57 serious Indian Penal Codes.
He is followed by Atiq Ahmad of Apna Dal, who is contesting from Allahabad West constituency with 44 criminal cases and 26 serious IPCs. Ajay Prakash Singh of Peace Party from Lambhua constituency has 21 cases and 18 serious IPCs.
Every major party has given tickets to candidates who have declared criminal cases. Samajwadi Party has 30 out of 56 (54 per cent); Bahujan Samaj Party has 21 out of 56 (38 per cent); the Bharatiya Janata Party has 25 out of 55 (46 per cent); the Indian National Congress has 16 out of 52 (31 per cent); the Peace Party has 4 out of 7 (57 per cent) and the Janata Dal-United has 4 out of 34 (12 per cent), candidates with declared criminal cases.
Out of these 121 candidates, 61 (19 per cent) have declared serious criminal cases such as murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, robbery, extortion etc. The BJP has 11, the BSP has 10, SP has 18, the Peace Party has 3 , the INC has 8 , the JD-U has 1, Quami Ekta Dal has 3 and Apna Dal has 5 such candidates.
One hundred and twenty two candidates out of 317 (39 per cent) are crorepatis. In 2007, there were 22 per cent crorepati candidates.
The candidates with maximum assets are Nand Gopal of BSP from Allahabad South constituency with assets worth 95.26 crore followed by Tanveer of INC from Bhadohi with 21.20 crore and Atiq Ahmad of Apna Dal from Allahabad constituency with assets worth 20.79 crore.
Six candidates have declared assets less than Rs1 lakh. Twelve candidates out of 317 declared liabilities of Rs1 crore and above.
Among major parties, the average asset per candidate for SP is Rs 1.99 crore; for BSP is Rs 3.68 crore; the BJP is Rs 1.39 crore; the INC is Rs 2.18 crore; the Peace Party is Rs 1.71 crore; the JD-U is Rs 22.98 lakh; the Quami Ekta Dal is Rs 68.81 lakh and Apna Dal is 1.33 crore.
The average assets of these MLAs as declared in 2007 was Rs 1,42,63,643 (1.42 crore). The average assets of these MLAs as declared in 2012 is Rs 5,84,26,250 (5.84 crore). Average asset growth for these re-contesting MLAs is Rs 4,41,62,607 (4.41 crore). Average percentage growth in assets for these MLA is 310 per cent.
Nand Gopal of BSP from Allahabad South has the highest increase in asset worth Rs 79.94 crore, followed by Anoop Sanda of SP from Sultanpur with an asset increase of Rs 8.78 crore and Ameeta Singh of INC from Amethi constituency with an asset increase of Rs 8.48 crore.
The highest percentage increase (7,922 per cent) has been for Jitendra Kumar of BSP from Chakia (SC) constituency. His assets rose from 2.37 lakh in 2007 to 1.90 crore in 2012.
He is followed by Pooja Pal of BSP from Allahabad West constituency with a percentage increase of 3,027 per cent (3.55 lakhs in 2007 to 1.11 crore in 2012) and Chandra Prakash of BSP from Gauriganj constituency with an increase of 1,846 per cent (24.22 lakh in 2007 to 4.71 crore in 2012).
One hundred and ninety three (out of 317) candidates or 61 per cent are graduates or with higher educational qualifications.
Out of 1,029 candidates, only 78 (8 per cent) candidates are women; the number of women candidates for BSP is 4(7 per cent) out of 56, for BJP it is 6 (11 per cent) out of 55, INC it is 3 (6 per cent) out of 52 and SP it is 5(9 per cent) out of 56.
Vijay Kumar (SP) has the highest annual income at Rs 93.38 lakhs followed by Nand Gopal (BSP) at Rs 78.36 lakh, Tanveer (INC) at Rs 53.78 lakh and Keshari Nath Tripathi (BJP) at Rs 49.32 lakh as per their last filed Income Tax Returns. A total of 135 candidates (43 per cent) have declared that they have never filed income tax returns.
Out of the 135 candidates who have never filed income tax returns, BJP has the maximum number of candidates 25 (45 per cent) out of 55 candidates, followed by JD-U at 24 (71 per cent) out of 34 candidates, INC has 22 (42 per cent) out of 52 candidates, SP has 20 (36 per cent) out of 56 candidates, Apna Dal has 19(58 per cent) out of 33, Quami Ekta Dal has 14(78 per cent) out of 18, BSP has 7 (13 per cent) out of 56 candidates and the Peace Party has 3(43 per cent) out of 7 candidates who have not filed IT returns.
The top three candidates with maximum assets but who have never filed IT returns are Siraj Ahmad Khan of Quami Ekta Dal contesting from Malhani has the highest total assets of Rs 2.73 crore, followed by Abdul Hadi of Peace Party from Bhadohi with assets of Rs 1.82 crore and Deepchand Jain of INC from Mirzapur with Rs. 1.75 crore respectively.
Seventy four (23 per cent) candidates have not declared their PAN details of which JD-U has the maximum number of candidates (20 out of 34), Apna Dal has 12 out 33 candidates, the BJP have 12 out of 55, Quami Ekta Dal has 10 out of 18 candidates, SP have 9 out of 56 candidates, INC have 5 out of 52, BSP have 3 out of 56 and Peace party have 2 out of 7 candidates who have not declared their PAN card details.
Top three candidates with maximum assets but have not declared their PAN card details are Abdul Hadi of Peace Party contesting from Bhadohi constituency has the highest assets with worth Rs 1.82 crores, followed by Raj Narayan Singh of INC from Obra with assets of Rs 1.66 crore and Jwala Prasad of Apna Dal from Mungra Badshahpur with Rs 1.34 crore respectively.
