As many as 230 of 673 candidates contesting in the upcoming Assembly polls are crorepatis, while 114 have criminal cases against them. Nineteen out of 70 constituencies are “red alert” ones with at least three tainted candidates each. The data has been complied by election watchdog, Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), after analysing the affidavits of the candidates.
The data shows that the Congress has fielded the maximum number of crorepatis (59) while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have fielded 44 and 28 crorepatis, respectively.
The data also shows that 62 candidates have declared assets worth more than Rs 10 crore. “Manjinder Singh Sirsa, contesting on a Shiromani Akali Dal ticket from Rajouri Garden, is the richest candidate with assets worth over
Rs 239 crore. He is followed by AAP’s Parmila Tokas, contesting from R K Puram, and BJP’s Sat Prakash Rana, contesting from Bijwasan. They have assets worth Rs 87 crore and 78 crore, respectively,” ADR founder-member Jagdeep Chhokar said.
Sushil Kumar Mishra of Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha, contesting from Burari, has declared zero assets. Eighty candidates have assets less than Rs 1 lakh.
The report also highlighted that of the 114 candidates with criminal cases against them, the BJP has fielded the highest number — 27 candidates — followed by the AAP with 21 and the Congress with 12.
Tughlakabad constituency, the ADR said, has five with criminal cases against them. Seventy-four have declared serious criminal cases, including murder, attempt to murder, assault, loss to exchequer and crimes against women.