Among major parties, 28 candidates out of 35 from BJP, 17 from Congress and nine from BJD have declared criminal cases in their affidavits.
On par with their Lok Sabha counterparts, 33 per cent of candidates across parties have criminal cases pending against them in phase two Assembly polls in the state.
As many as 35 Assembly segments under five Lok Sabha constituencies - Bargarh, Sundargarh, Balangir, Kandhamal and Aska in nine districts will go to polls in the phase on May 20. An analysis of candidates’ profiles by Odisha Election Watch and Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), shows of 265 candidates, including 41 women, 87 have declared criminal cases with 70 among them having serious criminal cases against them. While five candidates have declared cases related to murder, 16 have cases related to attempt to murder and 11 are accused of crimes against women.
Among major parties, 28 candidates out of 35 from BJP, 17 from Congress and nine from BJD have declared criminal cases in their affidavits. The maximum 20 candidates from BJP, 12 from Congress and eight from BJD have serious charges against them.
The ADR has declared 14 Assembly segments as red alert constituencies where three or more contesting candidates have declared criminal cases. The directions of the Supreme Court seem to have no effect on the political parties as they continue to follow their old practice of fielding candidates with criminal cases, observed an ADR member.
The role of money power in the elections is also evident from the fact that all major political parties have preferred to nominate wealthy candidates and 95 among them are crorepatis. The analysis found, the maximum 30 (86 per cent) candidates from BJD, 24 (69 per cent) from BJP and 24 (73 per cent) from Congress have declared assets valued at more than Rs 1 crore. While the average of assets per candidate contesting in the second phase is Rs 3.98 crore, it is Rs 13.11 crore for BJP, Rs 12.09 crore for BJD and Rs 2.95 crore for Congress.
With total assets worth over Rs 313.53 crore, BJP’s Rourkela candidate Dilip Ray is the richest, followed by BJD’s Balangir nominee Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo, who has assets of over Rs 73.66 crore. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is the third richest with assets worth over Rs 71 crore. He is in fray from Hinjili and Kantabanji seats. Independent candidate from Boudh Pradip Sahu is the poorest with assets of only Rs 7,000. BJD’s Jharsuguda candidate Dipali Das has highest liabilities of Rs 19.39 crore.
Almost half of the candidates have declared their educational qualifications to be between 5th and 12th standard while 122 candidates have declared to be graduate or above. One-fourth candidates are ages between 25 to 40 years and 150 candidates are of 41 to 60 years and 50 candidates are senior citizens.
