The Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) released the ‘Analysis of Criminal Background, Financial, Education, Gender and other Details of Candidates’ for the first phase of polls in Gujarat, on Friday in Ahmedabad.
The ADR scrutinised the self-sworn affidavits filed by 923 candidates out of the 977 candidates who will contest for 89 seats in the first phase of polling on 9 December.
The ADR did not scrutinise affidavits filed by 54 candidates as they were either badly scanned or the complete affidavits were not available on the Election Commission of India (ECI) website.
Candidates with criminal cases
Out of 923 candidates analysed, 137 (15%) candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves. In addition, 78 (8%) candidates have declared serious criminal cases, including cases related to murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, crimes against women etc.
Bhartiya Tribal Party candidate Maheshbhai Chotubhai Vasava, from Dediapada constituency, has declared cases related to murder (Indian Penal Code Section-302) and eight candidates have declared cases related to attempt to murder (Indian Penal Code Section-307).
Two candidates have declared cases related to rape (IPC Section-376), and one candidate has declared a case related to word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman (IPC Section-509). Three candidates have declared cases related to kidnapping or abducting, with an intent to secretly and wrongfully confine person (IPC Section-365).
There are 21(24%) out of 89 constituencies in the first phase of Gujarat assembly elections having three or more candidates with declared criminal cases, and have been declared as Red Alert constituencies.
Congress leads in criminal cases
Among the major parties, 31 (36%) out of 86 candidates from Indian National Congress (INC), 22(25%) out of 89 candidates from Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), 11 (18%) out of 60 candidates from Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), four (14%) out of 28 candidates from NCP, two (11%) out of 19 candidates from AAP, and 34 (8%) out of 416 Independent candidates analysed have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.
Again 20 (23%) out of 86 candidates from Indian National Congress (INC), 10 (11%) out of 89 candidates from Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), 8 (13%) out of 60 candidates from Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), three (11%) out of 28 candidates from NCP, one (five%) out of 19 candidates from AAP, and 15 (four%) out of 416 Independent candidates analysed have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.
Party wise average assets
Among major parties, the average assets per candidate for 89 BJP candidates is Rs 10.70 crores, 86 INC candidates is Rs 8.46 crores, 60 BSP candidates have average assets of Rs 19.16 lakhs, 28 NCP candidates have average assets worth Rs 2.15 Crores, 19 AAP candidates have average assets worth Rs 1.68 crores, and 416 Independent candidates have average assets of Rs. 29.23 lakhs.
Indranil Rajguru from Congress who is contesting from Rajkot West declared assets to the tune of Rs 141 crore, and was the highest among all candidates followed by Saurabh Patel from BJP who declared Rs 123 crore and Dhanji Patel who declared Rs 113 crore.
Among the major parties 76 (85%) out of 89 candidates from BJP, 60 (70%) out of 86 candidates from INC, seven (25%) out of 28 candidates from NCP, six (32%) out of 19 candidates from AAP, two (three%) out of 60 candidates from BSP and 25 (six%) out of 416 Independent candidates have declared assets worth more than Rs 1 crore.
Indranil Rajguru also featured at top in the list of Candidates with highest liabilities to the tune of Rs 45 crore whereas Dhanji Patel declared Rs 3 crore income per annum.
Other details
In all, 580 (63%) candidates have declared their educational qualification to be between 5th and 12th, while 217 (23.5%) candidates have declared having an educational qualification of graduate or above. 76(8%) candidates have declared themselves to be just literates, and 17 (2%) candidates are illiterate. There are 12 (one%) candidates who have not declared their educational qualification.
In all, 367(40%) candidates have declared their age to be between 25 to 40 years while 473 (51%) candidates have declared their age to be between 41 to 60 years. There are 82 (nine%) candidates who have declared their age to be between 61 to 80 years.
Only 57 (6%) female candidates are contesting in first phase of the Gujarat assembly election in 2017.
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