At least ten out of 134 candidates, contesting Lok Sabha elections in the VIIth or last phase on June 1, are facing serious criminal charges, including four of them are charged with committing crimes against women, according to a report by polls rights body — Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) released on Wednesday.
Altogether 30 (22%) and 26 (19%) candidates are facing cases of criminal and serious criminal offences respectively, while in terms of assets 50 (37%) of the contestants are crorepatis and Rs 2.50 crore was the average assets of the contenders in the fray, the report said.
The eight Lok Sabha seats that will go to polls in the last phase are Nalanda, Patna Sahib, Pataliputra, Ara, Buxur, Sasaram (SC), Karakat and Jehanabad.
According to the ADR report, Rashtra Sewa Dal’s Pradeep Kumar Joshi, contesting from Karakat, has the highest number of criminal cases, including attempt to murder, against him. BSP’s Anil Kumar from Buxur and Independent candidate, Sanyukta Kumari from Nalanda, are at second and third places, respectively, in terms of facing criminal charges.
In wealth, all the candidates of BJP, RJD, Congress, AIMIM and JD(U), while seven of the eight BSP and 16 (38%) of the 42 Independent candidates are crorepatis, the report said.
BJP’s Patna Sahib candidate Ravi Shankar Prasad is the richest of all with declared total assets worth over Rs 40 crore. BSP’s Patna Sahib nominee Neeraj Kumar and Bhojpuri actor Pawan Singh contesting as Independent from Karakat are at the second and third places with total assets worth over Rs 23 crore and Rs 16 crore, respectively.
Top three candidates with high liabilities are Independent Dadan Yadav and RJD’s Sudhakar Singh, son of RJD state president Jagdanand Singh, both contesting from Buxur, and with declared liabilities of over Rs 46 crore and Rs 5 crore, respectively. Rashtra Sewa Dal’s Pradeep Kumar Joshi from Karakat is at the third spot with declared assets worth over Rs one crore, including over Rs 99 lakh of disputed assets.
RJD supremo Lalu Prasad’s daughter Misa Bharti, contesting from Pataliputra seat, is at third spot in terms of total declared income worth over Rs 63 lakh during the year 2022-23. BJP’s Ravi Shankar Prasad and RJD’s Surendra Prasad Yadav are at the first and second places with total income of over Rs 4 crore and Rs 69 lakh, respectively, during the same period.
In terms of educational background, the report says that 74 (55%) of the contestants are graduates or above, including 33 graduates, 10 graduate professionals, 26 postgraduates and five doctorates. In addition, 27 are intermediate and 14 are 10th pass and 11 have declared to be mere literate.
Age-wise, 66 (49%) candidates are between 41 and 60 years, 42 (31%) in 25 to 40 years age, 25 (19%) are between 61 and 80 years, while one candidate is 83-year-old. This time maximum 12 (9%) women candidates are in the fray.