30 per cent of Congress, BJP candidates face criminal cases

The Association for Democratic Reforms has urged political parties to refrain from giving tickets to candidates who are facing serious criminal charges and asked them to disclose the criteria for the selection of candidates during elections.

The Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party -- the biggest political parties in the fray for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls -- have both granted tickets to tainted candidates.

The names of nearly 188 candidates have been declared so far and a staggering 30 per cent of them have criminal cases pending against them.

As many as 23 of the BJP’s 62 candidates are facing criminal charges while the Congress has 33 such candidates among the 126 who are contesting Lok Sabha polls as the party’s candidates.

Twenty four candidates -- 14 from the BJP and 10 from the Congress – are facing serious criminal cases.

In their earlier election affidavits, Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Choudhary from Baharampur constituency and Sarbananda Sonowal of the BJP from Lakhimpur have been booked in connection to a murder case.

Congress MP Abdul Mannan Hossain from Murshidabad, Ratna Singh from Pratapgarh and Vinay Kumar Pandey from Shrawasti constituency are facing attempt to murder cases.

BJP MP Gopinath Munde from Beed constituency and Congress leader Abdul Mannan Hossain from Murshidabad constituency are facing cases of kidnapping.

Four candidates -- BJP leader Nana Patole, Congress leader Bijendra Singh, BJP leader Ramesh V Katti and Congress leader Furkan Ansari -- have cases of electoral violations registered against them.

The average asset worth of the 188 candidates is Rs. 5.68 crore. The average asset worth of 126 Congress candidates is Rs. 6.91 crore and the average asset worth of 62 BJP candidates is Rs 3.18 crore.

Of the 188 candidates analysed so far, 114 candidates have declared total assets worth more than Rs 1 crore.

Naveen Jindal, Congress MP from Kurukshetra, has declared the highest asset worth among the 186 candidates analysed. He is worth Rs 131.07 crore, followed by Congress MP Ratna Singh from Pratapgarh Constituency with assets worth Rs. 67.82 crore and Congress leader Kazim Ali Khan with assets worth Rs. 56.89 crore.

Among BJP candidates, Shivkumari C Udasi from Haveri constituency has declared assets worth Rs 32.33 crore.

Image: Flags of the BJP and the Congress