The first phase of polling in Assam was held peacefully adhering to COVID-19 protocols on March 27 when 76.89 percent of the total 81.09 lakh voters exercised their franchise in 47 constituencies, according to an Election Commission official. The fate of 264 candidates including Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, Speaker Hitendra Nath Goswami, state Congress president Ripun Bora and jailed anti-CAA activist Akhil Gogoi was sealed in the first of the three-phase election for the 126-member assembly in the state.

After the conclusion of phase 1 of polling, the state is now ready to vote in the second phase of polling. Scheduled to be held on April 1, a total of 39 constituencies will go for voting in this phase.

As these constituencies are ready to cast votes, take a look at contesting candidates based on their criminal cases, financial assets, educational qualifications, and gender representation, published by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

This analysis is based on the self-sworn affidavits of all 345 candidates.

Criminal cases

There are 37 out of 345 candidates in the second phase of the Assam Assembly elections who have criminal records. This means 11 percent of the contesters in the fray have criminal records.

Of these, 11 are from Bharatiya Janata Party, five each from Congress and All India United Democratic Front, three from Assam Jatiya Parishad, two from Asom Gana Parishad and one each from All India Forward Bloc, Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist), and United Peoples Party Liberal.

Out of 37 candidates with criminal cases, 30 have declared serious criminal cases against themselves.

As many as three candidates have declared cases related to crime against women. Of these, one candidate has declared cases related to rape (IPC Section-376).

Red Alert Constituencies: Among 30 constituencies going to vote in the second phase of West Bengal Assembly polls, two are Red alert constituencies. Red alert constituencies are those where three or more contesting candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves.

Crorepati candidates

There are 73 candidates who are crorepati, which means they have declared assets valued at more than Rs one crore. Of these, 19 are from BJP, 18 from Congress, six from AJP, five from AIUDF, and three from BPF and AGP.

Education

A total of 131 candidates have an educational qualification equivalent to graduate or above. This amounts to 38 percent of the legislators.

There are 209 candidates – 37 percent – who have declared their qualification to be between 5th pass and 12th pass. Two candidates are diploma holders while three candidates are just literate.

Age

Among the 345 candidates in the fray, 113 have declared their age to be between 25 and 40 years while 182 have declared to be between 41 and 60 years. There are 49 candidates who have declared their age to be between 61 and 80 years. Also, there is an 82-year-old candidate contesting in the second phase of the state election.

Women candidates

Of the 345 candidates contesting in 39 constituencies of Assam in phase 2, only eight percent are female. This means, 319 candidates are men while only 26 are women.