The share of crorepatis among people who are contesting the February 20 Punjab assembly elections has risen from 37% in the 2017 polls to 42% now, according to the latest analysis of candidates’ affidavits by the Association of Democratic Rerforms.
The share of candidates facing criminal cases to has risen from just 9% in 2017 to 25% now. When it comes to candidates facing serious criminal offences, the figure has risen from 7% in 2017 to 17% in this election.
The figure is not too promising when it comes to the educational background of the candidates. In all, 765, or , people contesting the Punjab assembly elections have studied up to just Class XII, shows data. Of them, 49 are illiterate, 21 are literate, 75 are Cl ass V pass, 118 are Class VIII pass, 263 are Class X pass, and just 239 are Class 12 pass.
Among other candidates, 199 are graduates, 141 have a graduate professional degree, 135 are postgraduates, eig ht are doctorates, the qualification of 24 candidates has been categorized as “others”, and four have not given their educational qualification.
Of the 1,316 candidates in the fray in Punjab, ADR analysed affidavits of 1,276 candidates and could not check the papers of others as these were not legible. Among all the candidates, 521 were found to be having assets worth more than Rs 1 crore. Among these 521 ‘crorepati’ candidates, 380 belong to mainstream political parties, including 89 to SAD, 107 to Congress, 60 to BJP, 16 to BSP, 11 to S hiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt), 81 to AAP, and 16 to Punjab Lok Congress (PLC).
SAD and BSP are contesting the elections in an alliance, and so are the BJP, PLC and SAD (Sanyukt). The ADR rep ort did not mention the assets of candidates belonging to the farmers’ political front Sanyukt Samaj Morcha (SSM), as its candidates are not contesting on the party’s name in the upcomi ng elections. SSM’s ally Gurnam Singh Charuni-headed Sanyukt Sangharsh Party (SSP) has fielded eight candidates, of whom five are crorepatis. The average wealth of SSP candidates is Rs 2. 6 crore.
