There has been an increasing proportion of 'crorepatis' winning the Lok Sabha elections in recent years, it says

Out of the 543 winning candidates in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, 93 per cent (504) have total assets over Rs 1 crore, according to the latest analysis by the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) released on Thursday.

The analysis showed that there has been an increasing proportion of 'crorepatis' winning the Lok Sabha elections. In 2009, 58 per cent of all winning candidates had total assets worth Rs 1 crore. In 2014, it rose sharply to 82 per cent and to 88 per cent in 2019.

In several parties, all the candidates who won the elections were crorepatis. These were Telugu Desam Party, Janata Dal (United), Shiv Sena (UBT), Shiv Sena, Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), Rashtriya Janata Dal, Aam Aadmi Party, Indian Union Muslim League and Nationalist Congress Party. However, these were the parties which won a smaller number of seats in the elections.

Among the bigger parties, 95 per cent of the 240 winning candidates of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had declared assets worth Rs 1 crore or more. In Congress, which emerged as the second-largest party, 93 per cent out of 99 winning candidates were crorepatis.

As many as 95 per cent out of 22 winning candidates from Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, 93 per cent out of 29 winning candidates fielded by All India Trinamool Congress, 92 per cent out of 37 winning candidates fielded by Samajwadi party had total assets worth Rs 1 crore or more.

Interestingly, among these crorepati candidates, the highest 42 per cent (227) had assets worth over Rs 10 crore or above. They were followed by 32 per cent (174) candidates with assets between Rs 1 crore and Rs 5 crore, and 19 per cent (103) between Rs 5 and 10 crore.

"The chance of winning for a crorepati candidate in the Lok Sabha 2024 is 19.6 per cent, whereas the chance of winning for a candidate with assets less than Rs 1 crore is 0.7 per cent," ADR said.

Among the winners, TDP's Guntur candidate Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani had the highest assets of over Rs 5,705 crore. He was followed by BJP's Chevella winner Konda Vishweshwar Reddy at Rs 4,568 crore and BJP's Kurukshetra candidate Naveen Jindal at Rs 1,241 crore.

On the other hand, the candidate with the least assets was BJP's Jyotirmay Singh Mahato from Purulia. His total assets were worth Rs 5 lakh. He was followed by AITC's Mital Bag from Arambag and SP's Priya Saroj from Machhlishahr with assets worth Rs 7 lakh and Rs 11 lakh, respectively.

Percentage of winners with criminal cases rising

The analysis also highlighted that out of the 543 winning candidates in Lok Sabha 2024, 46 per cent or 251 have declared criminal cases against themselves. This is higher than 43 per cent in 2019 and 34 per cent in 2014. In the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, 30 per cent of winners had criminal cases against them.

"There is an increase of 55 per cent in the number of MPs with declared criminal cases since 2009," ADR said.

This trend also follows in the serious criminal cases related to rape, murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, and crimes against women.

From 14 per cent of such candidates in 2009, the number of winners with serious criminal cases has jumped 124 per cent to 31 per cent this year. In 2019 and 2014, it was 29 per cent and 21 per cent respectively.

Moreover, 27 winning candidates have declared convicted cases against themselves this year.

Among the parties, 100 per cent winners from RJD and IUML have criminal cases against them. For other parties, 39 per cent of 240 winning candidates from BJP, 49 per cent of Congress winners, 57 per cent out of 37 winning candidates from SP, 45 per cent out of 29 candidates bi AITC, and 59 per cent of DMK winners have criminal cases against them.

For TDP and Shiv Sena, this percentage stands at 50 per cent and 71 per cent, respectively.