36 out of 266 LS candidates in Guj face criminal cases: ADR

Thirty-six out of the 266 candidates for the Lok Sabha polls in Gujarat have criminal cases against them, with some also facing attempt to murder and dacoity charges, as per an analysis of their affidavits by the Association for Democratic Reforms.

Elections to 25 out of the 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat will be held on May 7. The Bharatiya Janata Party candidate from Surat seat has already been declared elected unopposed.

"Out of the 266 candidates, 36, or 14 percent, have criminal charges against them, as per details provided by them in the affidavits. Out of them, 21, or 8 percent, have serious criminal cases against them," ADR's Gujarat coordinator Pankti Jog told reporters in Ahmedabad on Monday.

Serious criminal cases are those which attract a maximum punishment of 5 years or more, are non-bailable, related to murder, rape, kidnapping, bribery, assault, causing loss to the exchequer, crimes against women, hate speech, and offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act, she said.

Among the major parties, out of the 25 BJP candidates, four, or 15 percent, have criminal cases against them, with two facing serious charges, as per the data of ADR, which is an electoral reform advocacy group.

Out of the 23 Congress candidates, six, or 26 percent, are named in criminal cases, with three facing serious charges, showed the ADR analysis of the Election Commission data.

Tribal leaders Anant Patel and Dilip Vasava, contesting from Valsad and Bharuch seats respectively, are facing cases on charges of attempt to murder.
Patel is the Congress candidate, while Vasava is the Bharat Adivasi Party nominee.

Aam Aadmi Party candidate Chaitar Vasava and independent nominee Ismail Patel, both constesting from Bharuch seat, have the highest number of 13 criminal cases each against them.

The cases against Chaitar Vasava include dacoity, sexual harassment, abetment of suicide and hate speech, as per the ADR data.

Ismail Patel is facing various charges including dacoity, forgery and voluntarily causing hurt.

Out of the total 118 independent candidates, 18 have criminal cases against them, with 11 facing serious charges, the ADR said showed.

Anant Patel is also accused in cases of attempt to murder, dacoity and voluntarily causing hurt. In one case, he was also convicted and fined Rs 99.

Dilip Vasava, who is facing the charge of attempt to murder, was sentenced to three years imprisonment in 2016. He has filed an appeal against the court order which is currently pending, the data showed.

Chaitar Vasava was sentenced to 6-month imprisonment and fined Rs 1,000 in one of the cases.

Independent candidate from Kheda seat, Hitesh Parmar, is facing charges of stalking and criminal intimidation, according to the data.

Congress' Banaskantha seat candidate Geniben Thakor has a case pending related to abetment of suicide, said the data.