111 criminals and 346 crorepatis in Rajasthan polls

Rajasthan will see a total of 111 candidates with a criminal background contesting the elections. The elections will also be contested by 346 crorepati candidates, according to a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms.

Out of the 733 candidates analysed, 111 candidates (15 per cent) have declared criminal cases against them. Out of the 111 candidates who have declared criminal cases, 62 have declared serious criminal cases. These include murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, criminal intimidation and crime against women.

Party-wise candidates with criminal cases:

Twenty-eight (14%) of 199 candidates fielded by the Indian National Congress have declared criminal cases against them while 31 (16 per cent) out of 199 candidates from the Bharatiya Janata Party and 26 (14 per cent) out of 190 candidates from the Bahujan Samaj Party have declared criminal cases in their affidavits.

Fifteen (41 per cent) out of 37 Communist party of India-Marxist candidates have criminal backgrounds.

The BJP had 10 per cent candidates with criminal cases in the 2008 assembly elections which has risen to 16 per cent in the 2013 assembly elections.

The BSP had 15 per cent candidates with criminal cases in the 2008 assembly elections which has gone down to 14 per cent in 2013. The CPM had 58 per cent candidates with criminal cases in the 2008 assembly elections which has gone down to 41 per cent in 2013 assembly elections while there were no change in the percentage of candidates (14 per cent) with criminal cases fielded by the INC between two elections.

Cases related to murder and attempt to murder: One candidate have declared murder charges against himself while nine candidates declared attempt to murder charges. Three candidates each from the CPM and INC, one candidate each from the BJP, the Nationalist Congress Party and one independent candidate have declared attempt to murder charges.

Cases related to kidnapping: Four candidates have declared kidnapping charges against them.

Crimes against women: Nawal Kishore Meena of the INC from the Bamanwas constituency has declared a case related to word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman (Indian Penal Code-509). Two candidates have declared cases under Prevention of Corruption Act.

Financial:

Crorepati candidates: Out of the 733 candidates analysed, 346 (47 per cent) are crorepatis.

Average assets: The average asset of these 733 candidates contesting in the 2013 Rajasthan assembly elections is Rs.2.97 crore. The average asset of 727 candidates from these political parties and independent members of Legislative Assembly in 2008 Rajasthan assembly elections was Rs.1.43 crore.

Party-wise average assets: The average asset per candidate for the BJP (199 candidates) is Rs4.36 crore, for 199 INC candidates the average is Rs 4.79 crore and the average assets of the BSP (190 candidates) is Rs 93.43 lakh in 2013 assembly elections.

Eleven outgoing independent MLAs declared an average assets of Rs.2.49 crore and two candidates from NPEPT declared an average assets of Rs.2.13 crore. The average asset per candidate for the BJP, the INC and the BSP in 2008 assembly elections were Rs 1.91 crore, Rs 2.19 crore and Rs 87.19 lakh respectively.

High asset candidates: The top three candidates with high declared assets are Vishwendra Singh of the INC from Deeg-Kumher Constituency with declared assets worth Rs.118.96 crore followed by Prem Singh of the BJP from Neem Ka Thana constituency with assets worth Rs 87.70 crore and Anjana Udailal of the INC from Nimbahera Constituency with assets worth Rs 65.55 crore.

High liability candidates: The top three candidates with highest declared liabilities are Prem Singh of the BJP from Neem Ka Thana constituency who has declared the highest liabilities worth Rs 46.02 crore followed by Vishwendra Singh of the INC from Deeg-Kumher constituency with liabilities worth Rs 40.12 crore and Anjana Udailal of the INC from Nimbahera constituency with liabilities worth Rs 20.25 crore.

High income candidates:

Prem Singh of the BJP from Neem Ka Thana constituency has declared the highest income of Rs 4.56 crore in the last Income Tax Returns filed for the year 2012-13 followed by Ashok Parnami of the BJP from Adarsh nagar constituency with total income of Rs 2.94 crore and Ratan jaldhari of BJP from Sikar constituency with an income of Rs 2.74 crore for the financial year 2012-13.