More than 21% of the 173 candidates contesting in the first phase  of the Manipur assembly elections have criminal cases and 16% have serious criminal cases against them while 53%  are ‘crorepatis’. Twenty four candidates (14%) have assets valued at `5  crore and above, a report of the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) said on Friday.

 The ADR released the report after analysing the self-sworn affidavits of all 173 candidates, and  said 37 candidates (21%) have declared criminal cases against themselves and 27 (16%) have declared serious criminal cases against them.  According to the ADR analysis, among the major parties, 10 (26%) of the 38 BJP candidates have serious criminal cases followed by five (18%) of the 28 JD(U) candidates, four (11%) of the 35 Congress candidates and two (7%) of the 27 candidates belonging to the NPP have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

 The report said the directions of the Supreme Court have had no impact on the parties in the selection of candidates for the first phase of the assembly elections as they continue giving tickets to nearly 21%  candidates with criminal cases.  Of the 173 candidates contesting in the first phase of elections on February 28, 91 (53%) are crorepatis with 24 candidates (14%) having assets valued at Rs five crore and above.

The role of money power in the elections is evident from the fact that all major parties give  tickets to wealthy candidates, the report added.

 Among the major parties 21 (78%) of the 27 candidates belonging to the NPP, 27 (71%) of the 38 candidates from the BJP, 18 (51%) of the 35 Congress candidates and 14 (50%) of the 28 candidates put up by the JD(U) have declared assets valued at more than `1  crore.

The average assets per candidate contesting in the first phase of the elections are Rs 2.51 crore.

A NCP candidate, Ningthoujam Popilal Singh contesting from the Sekmai (SC) constituency, has declared zero assets in his affidavit.

 The ADR report said 37 (21%) candidates have declared their educational qualifications between classes 5 to 12 while 133 (77%) candidates have declared having a graduate degree or above. There are three candidates who are diploma degree holders. Overall, 23 (13%) candidates have declared their age to be between 25 to 40 years while 115 (66%) candidates are between 41 to 60 years.

 There are 33 (19%) candidates who have declared their age to be between 61 to 80 years and two candidates have declared they are more than 80 years old. Of the 173 candidates contesting in the first phase of the Assembly elections, 15 (9%) women candidates are in the electoral battle.

The elections to the 60-seat Manipur assembly would be held in two phases on February 28 and March 5 and the counting of votes will take place on March 10.