588 'criminals', 461 crorepatis in Maha polls

Maharashtra will see a total of 588 candidates with a criminal background battling the elections this time.

A report prepared by the National Election Watch states that of the 3,559 candidates battling in the elections, 588 have a criminal background.

The Shiv Sena tops the list with 98 of the 153 Sena candidates having at least one criminal record against them.

The Bharatiya Janata Party comes second with 66 such candidates. In all, the BJP has fielded 164 candidates.

The MNS stands third with 81 of the total 141 candidates having a criminal background.

The Congress has fielded 40 tainted candidates, the Nationalist Congress Party 40 and the Bahujan Samaj Party has 47.

The interesting fact about this list is that at least 50 per cent of the candidates with a criminal background are from Sindhurg district.

Talking about richness, the Maharashtra elections will witness 461 crorepati candidates this time.

While the Congress tops this list with 103 crorepatis, while the crorepati percentage in the NCP candidates list is 74 percent with 83 of the 112 being crorepatis.

Fifty-two percent of the BJP candidates are crorepatis (59 of 114 candidates), while the MNS has 34 crorepatis of its 141 candidates, the Sena has 69 crorepatis of its total 153 candidates, and the BSP has 17 crorepatis among 276 candidates.

Sindhurg district tops the chart once again with 58 per cent of the candidates from here being crorepatis.

The top five richest candidates in the polls are Abu Asim Azmi of the Samajwadi Party with Rs 126 crore, Abu Aasim Azam of the Samajwadi Party with Rs 126 crore, Jain Sureshkumar Bhikamchand of the Shiv Sena with Rs 79 crore, Bafna Rajkumar Sumermal of the Congress with Rs 34 crore and D Rajendra Jawaharlal of the Congress with Rs 32 crore

A total of 1,029 candidates have not furnished PAN card details.