The fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections is set to be held on 6 May, in 51 constituencies across seven states. In a report released by The Association for Democratic Reforms and National Election Watch, 126 candidates for Phase V are declared criminals while 184 are crorepatis.
The report analysed 668 out of the 674 contesting candidates for their criminal background, financial, educational and other details.
Among the major parties, 78 percent of the Samajwadi Party candidates have serious criminal cases against them which means they are accused of committing offences like corruption, assault, murder, kidnap or crimes against women.
While 46 percent of BJP candidates and 31 percent of Congress candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves, all three candidates of Rashtriya Janta Dal in the fray in this phase have criminal cases against them.
It also has the most number of “red alert constituencies,” where 3 or more contesting candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves.
Independent candidate Saritha S Nair from Amethi in Uttar Pradesh has the most number of criminal cases against her with charges like criminal breach of trust, forgery for purpose of cheating and disappearance of evidence of offence.
While 28 percent of the candidates are crorepatis, the average asset per candidate for phase five of the election is Rs 2.57 crore.
Eight out of the nine candidates of the SP are crorepatis. In fact, the candidate with the highest assets at more than Rs 193 crore is Poonam Shatrughan Sinha who is contesting from Lucknow for the SP.
Jayant Sinha, the Minister of State for Civil Aviation and BJP’s candidate for Hazaribagh in Jharkhand, has declared the highest annual income at more than Rs 5 crores.
Two independent candidates, Guru Gokulchand Rashtarwadi Munni as well as Narayan Das Jatav from Madhya Pradesh Jan Vikas Party have declared their assets as zero.
The report also states that a little more than half the candidates have an educational qualification of graduate or above. 264 candidates have an educational qualification between 5th and 12th, while 6 candidates have declared themselves as illiterate.
It’s also important to note that only 12 percent of the candidates contesting in the fifth phase are females.
The ADR analysed the candidates through their affidavits and nomination papers obtained from the Election Commission of India.