In 3rd phase, 27% BJP, 24% Congress Lok Sabha candidates declare criminal cases on themselves

By Our Representative
An analysis by the National Election Watch (NEW) and the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) of the self-sworn affidavits of candidates fighting Lok Sabha elections in the third phase (April 23) suggests, among the major political parties, and 40 (44%) out of 90 candidates from Congress, 38 (39%) out of 97 candidates from BJP have declared criminal cases against themselves.
As for serious criminal cases, 26 (27%) out of 97 candidates from BJP and 24 (27%) out of 90 candidates from Congress have declared serious criminal cases against themselves.
In all, 1,594 candidates' affidavits analysed by NEW and ADR suggests that 340 or 21% candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves, and 230 or 14% have declared serious criminal cases against themselves.
Further, 14 candidates have declared convicted cases against themselves, 13 candidates have declared cases related to murder (IPC Section -302) against themselves, and 30 candidates have declared cases related to attempt to murder (IPC Section 307) against themselves. At the same time, 26 candidates have declared cases related to hate speech against themselves.
Then, 14 candidates have declared cases related to kidnapping such kidnapping for ransom, etc., and 29 candidates have declared cases related to crime against women such as rape (IPC Section-376), assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty (IPC Section-354), etc.

In all 115 constituencies are going to the polls in the third phase. Of these, 63 are red alert constituencies -- where three or more contesting candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves. Also, there are 392 (25%) candidates who have assets worth Rs 1 crore and more.
Among the major parties 81 (84%) out of 97 candidates from BJP and 74 (82%) out of 90 candidates from Congress have declared assets worth more than Rs 1 crore. The average assets per candidate for 97 BJP candidates is Rs 13.01 crore, and for 90 Congress candidates it is Rs 10.96 crore.

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