New Delhi, May 13 : The number of candidates with criminal cases against them has inched upwards among all political parties and the highest number of such candidates belong to both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress.
The number of candidates with criminal backgrounds stood at 15 per cent in the 2009 election.Their number has risen to 19 per cent in these polls — an increase of four per cent. In this case, the ruling BJP is leading with 40 per cent of such candidates with the main Opposition party, Congress, close at its heels at 39 per cent.
The number of candidates with serious criminal offences has gone up substantially from 608 (eight per cent) in the 2009 elections and 908 (that is 11 per cent) in 2014
Simultaneously, the proportion of crorepati candidates has swelled to 29 per cent from 16 per cent in 2009 — almost doubling in size. In this too, the BJP and Congress are equally at par with both showing 83 per cent of their nominees being crorepatis.
Based on analysis of affidavits of 7,828 candidates of 8,049 candidates of the current 17th Lok Sabha elections, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) in its report pointed out that of these, 1,070 contestants — that is 13 per cent — are those against whom there is a record of serious crimes. In serious crimes are
ranked crimes such as slaughter, murder, abduction, rape and violence against women.
Prof Jagdeep Chokhar, a founding member of the non-partisan body, said this time there were 56 such candidates who have been convicted by court. The number of candidates facing serious criminal cases include 55 murder cases, 184 murderous attempts, 126 cases of crime against women, nine for rape and 47 of kidnapping. At the same time, 95 candidates have said in their manifesto that they have cases lodged against them for giving provocative speeches.
