In UP, SP tops list of candidates with criminal record

According to a report by the Uttar Pradesh Election Watch and the Association for Democratic Reforms, Samajwadi Party tops the list parties fielding tainted candidates. Vicky Nanjappa reports 

The election in Uttar Pradesh has 795 candidates with criminal records, which means that out of the 2,195 candidates who contested the election, 35 per cent or more had criminal cases pending against them.

A report combining the candidates who contested in all the phases in Uttar Pradesh has been put out by the Uttar Pradesh Election Watch and the Association for Democratic Reforms. The Samajwadi Party topped the list while the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress held the second and third spot respectively in fielding tainted candidates.

Out of these 2,195 candidates analysed by UPEW/ADR, 759 candidates or 35 per cent declared pending criminal cases against them. SP had 199 out of 401 (50 per cent), BJP had 144 out of 397 (36 per cent), INC had 120 out of 354 (34 per cent), BSP had 131 out of 403 (33 per cent), Janata Dal(United) had 46 out of 220 (21 per cent), Peace Party had 55 out of 209 (26 per cent), Apna Dal had 22 out of 76 (29 per cent), Qaumi Ekta Dal had 13 out of 38 (34 per cent), Rashtriya Lok Dal had 16 out of 46 (35 per cent), Bundelkhand Congress had 5 out of 33 (15 per cent) candidates with pending criminal cases.

Out of the above 759 candidates with criminal cases, Brijesh Singh alias Arun Kumar Singh (Pragatishil Manav Samaj Party, Saiyadraja constituency) has 39 criminal cases including 47 charges related to murder. He is followed by Atiq Ahmed of the Apna Dal, Allahabad West constituency. He has declared 44 criminal cases including 12 charges related to murder, five charges related to kidnapping and abduction in order to murder and three charges of extortion. Mitra Sen (SP, Bikapur constituency) has 36 criminal cases including 14 cases related to murder.

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Among the major parties, the candidates who have declared the maximum number of serious cases against themselves are: 1) Mitra Sen (SP, Bikapur constituency) with 36 criminal cases including 14 cases related to murder.

2) Indra Pratap (BSP, Goshainganj) with 31 criminal cases including 10 charges related to murder, 1 charge of  kidnapping or abducting in order to murder and another charge related to robbery.

3) Upendra (BJP, Phephana) has 11 cases against him including 5 charges related to murder

4) Ajay (INC, Pindra) has eight cases against himself including three charges related to attempt to murder

5) Manveer Singh (JD(U), Jewar) has declared 31 cases against him including 15 charges related to murder.

Out of these 759 candidates with pending criminal cases, 340 (16 per cent) have serious criminal cases like murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, robbery, extortion etc. SP had 92, BSP had 57, BJP 57, INC 50, Peace Party 30, JD(U) had 20, Apna Dal 11, RLD had 8, Qaumi Ekta Dal had 5 and Bundelkhand Congress had 3.

Among all the analysed candidates, 5 candidates have charges of rape against them. They are Bhagwan Sharma (SP) of Bulandshahar, Shahnawaz Rana (RLD) of Bijnor, Mohd Aleem Khan (BSP) of Bulandshahar, Anoop Sanda (SP) of Sultanpur and Manoj Kumar Paras (SP) from Bijnor constituency.

A total of 1,046 candidates out of 2195 analysed ie 48 per cent are 'crorepatis'. In 2007, there were 22 per cent 'crorepati' candidates. The candidates with maximum assets are Najir Ahmed of INC from Agra South constituency with assets worth 141 crore. He is followed by Nand Gopal of BSP from Allahabad South constituency with assets worth 95.26 crore, and Nawab Kazim Ali Khan of INC from Suar constituency with assets worth 56.89 crore.

A total of 70 candidates out of 2,195 analysed (3.2 per cent) declared liabilities of 1 crore or above. Among major parties, the average asset per candidate for BSP was approximate 3.39 crore, for SP it was 2.45 crore, BJP 1.92 crores, INC 2.98 crore, for the JD(U) it was 56.64 lakh, Peace Party 1.03 crores, Apna Dal 96.27 lakh, RLD 4.05 crores, for the Qaumi Ekta Dal it was 85.77 lakh and for Bundelkhand Congress it was 46.22 lakh. Out of 6,850 contesting candidates in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections 2012, only 594 (8.7 per cent) candidates were women.

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The number of re-contesting MLAs analysed for the UP 2012 assembly Elections was 285.

The average asset of these MLAs as declared in 2007 is Rs 1,21,26,559 (1.21 crore). The average asset of these MLAs as declared in 2012 is, Rs 3,56,67,212 (3.56 crore). Average asset growth for these re-contesting MLAs is Rs 2,35,40,653 (2.35 crore). Average percentage growth in assets for these MLA is 194 per cent.

Nand Gopal of BSP from Allahabad South constituency has shown the highest increase in asset worth Rs 79.94 crore (from 15.32 crore to 95.26 crore), followed by Nawab Kazim Ali Khan of INC from Suar constituency with an asset increase of Rs 47.70 crore (from 9.18 crore in 2007 to 56.89 crore in 2012), followed by Dharam Pal Yadav of Rashtriya Parivartan Dal from Sahaswan constituency with an asset increase of Rs 28.30 crore (from 14.42 crore in 2007 to 47.72 crore in 2012).

The highest percentage increase (13,074 per cent) has been for Kaushlendra Nath of JD(U) from Tulsipur constituency. His assets rose from 51.94 thousand in 2007 to 68.42 lakh in 2012. He is followed by Jitendra Kumar of BSP from Chakia (SC) with a percentage increase of 7,922 per cent (2.37 lakh in 2007 to 1.90 crore in 2012) and Mahendra Singh Rajpoot of SP from Etawah with an increase of 6,021 per cent (5.25 lakh in 2007 to 3.21 crore in 2012).

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Uttar Pradesh Election Watch has analysed affidavits of 325 candidates out of 962 candidates who are contesting in the seventh phase of Uttar Pradesh 2012 assembly elections.

Out of these 325 candidates analysed for the seventh phase, 98 candidates or 30 per cent declared criminal cases against them. In 2007 assembly elections for the whole of Uttar Pradesh, 27 per cent candidates had declared criminal cases against them.

Amongst major parties, every party has given tickets to candidates who have declared criminal cases. SP has 27 out of 60 (45 per cent), BJP has 20 out of 60 (33 per cent), BSP has 13 out of 60 (22 per cent) INC has 14 out of 51 (27 per cent), RLD has 4 out of 10 (40 per cent), Peace Party has 13 out of 45 (29 per cent), JD(U) has 4 out of 26 (15 per cent), Ittehad-E-Millat Council has 1 out of 1 (100 per cent) and Rastriya Parivartan Dal has 1 out of 1 (100 per cent) candidates with pending criminal cases.

Out of these 98 candidates with declared criminal cases, 37 have declared serious criminal cases like murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, rape, robbery, extortion etc. SP has 12, BJP has 6, BSP has 4, INC has 3, RLD has 2, JD(U) has 3, Peace Party has 5 and Rastriya Parivartan Dal has 1 such candidates.

Among these 98 candidates of seventh phase who have declared criminal cases against them, Mehboob Ali of SP, contesting from Amroha constituency) has declared maximum number of criminal cases. He has declared 15 criminal cases including 3 charges related to murder. He is followed by Abid Raja Khan (SP, Badaun constituency), who has declared 10 criminal cases including 3 charges related to murder and Dharam Yadav (Rashtriya Parivartan Dal, Sahaswan constituency) has declared 8 criminal cases including 4 charges related to murder.

Among other major parties, the following candidates have declared the highest number of serious criminal cases against them:

1) Virendra Singh (of BSP contesting from Bithari Chainpur) has 2 cases against him including 2 charges related to murder.

2) Arvind Giri (of INC contesting from Gola Golaknath constituency) has declared 8 cases against him including 1 charge related to murder.

3) Shahnawaz Rana (of RLD from Bijnor constituency) has declared 6 criminal charges including 1 charge related to murder and 1 charge related to rape.

4) Ramveer Singh (BJP, Kundarki constituency) has declared 5 criminal charges including 2 charges related to murder and Anoop Singh (JD(U), Nighasan constituency) has 1 criminal charge including 1 charge related to murder.

A total of 169 candidates out of 325 analyzed i.e. 52 percent are crorepatis. In 2007, there were 22 percent crorepati candidates.

The candidates with maximum assets in the seventh phase is Nawab Kazim Ali Khan of INC from Suar constituency with assets worth Rs. 56.89 crore followed by Dharam Yadav of Rashtriya Parivartan Dal from Sahaswan with Rs 42.72 crore and Supriya Aron of INC from Bareilly Cantt. constituency with assets worth Rs 27.69 crore.

One candidate, Shamshad Hussain (Bundelkhand Congress) of Bilari constituency, has declared assets of less than 1 lakh (Rs. 85,000).

A total of 29 (9 per cent) candidates out of 325 analysed declared liabilities of Rs 40 lakh or above.

Among major parties, the average asset per candidate for BSP is 2.86 crore, for INC is 3.18 crore, for RLD is 5.19 crore, for SP is 1.95 crore, for BJP is 1.62 crore, for JD(U) is 51.79 lakh, for Peace Party is 59.33 lakh, for Bundelkhand Congress is 12.24 lakh and for Apna Dal is 1.16 crore.

59 per cent of candidates (192 of 325 analysed) are graduates and above.

Out of 962 candidates contesting for seventh phase of Uttar Pradesh assembly elections 2012, only 100 (11 per cent) candidates are women.

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Number of re-contesting MLAs analysed for seventh phase of UP 2012 assembly elections is 47. The average asset of these MLAs as declared in 2007 was Rs 1,13,03,326 (1.13 crore). The average asset of these MLAs as declared in 2012 is, Rs 4,74,96,422 (4.74 crore). Average asset growth for these re-contesting MLAs is Rs 3,61,93,096 (3.61 crore).

Average percentage growth in assets for these MLA is 320%.

Nawab Kazim Ali Khan of INC from Suar constituency has shown the highest increase in asset worth Rs 47.70 crore (from 9.18 crore in 2007 to 56.89 crore in 2012), followed by Dharam Pal Yadav of RPD from Sahaswan constituency with an asset increase of Rs 28.30 crore (from 14.42 crore in 2007 to 47.72 crore in 2012) and Shahnawaz Rana of RLD from Bijnor constituency with an asset increase of Rs 15.97 crore (from 2.02 crore in 2007 to 17.99 crore in 2012).

The highest percentage increase (3,046 per cent) has been for Sinod Kumar Shakya of BSP from Dataganj constituency. His assets rose from 9.60 lakh in 2007 to 3.01 crores in 2012. He is followed by R A Usmaani of SP from Nighasan constituency with a percentage increase of 1,500 per cent (9.20 lakh in 2007 to 1.47 crore in 2012) and Mehboob Ali of SP from Amroha constituency with an increase of 1,391 per cent (31.20 lakh in 2007 to 4.65 crore in 2012).

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Uttar Pradesh Election Watch analysed affidavits of 325 out of the 962 candidates contesting the seventh phase of the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. Out of the above 325 candidates, Om Kumar (BSP) has the highest annual income at Rs 1.18 crore followed by Kavita Singh (BJP) at Rs. 1.02 crore, Iqbal (BSP) at Rs 93.15 lakh and Neeraj Kushwaha (BSP) at Rs 84.18 lakh as per their last filed Income Tax Returns.

A total of 117 candidates (36 per cent) out of the 325 candidates analysed by the Uttar Pradesh Election Watch have declared that they have never filed income tax returns. Out of the 117 candidates analysed who have never filed income tax returns, BJP has the maximum number of candidates 25 (42 per cent of the 60 candidates analysed) followed by Peace Party with 20 (44 per cent of the 45 candidates analysed), SP with 19 (32 per cent of the 60 candidates analysed), JD(U) with 18 (69 per cent of the 26 candidates analysed), INC with 15 (29 per cent of the 51 candidates analysed), BSP with 9 (15 per cent of the 60 candidates analysed) who have never filed ITR.

The top three candidates with maximum assets but have never filed IT returns are Vinay Tiwari of SP contesting from Gola Gokrannath, with highest total assets of Rs 5.46 crore, followed by Kunwar Sarvesh Kumar of the BJP from Thakurdwara with assets of Rs 4.34 crore and Ashish Yadav of SP from Shekhupur with Rs 4.11 crore respectively.

52 (16 per cent) candidates have not declared their PAN details. Peace Party has the maximum number of candidates (14 out of 45) who have not declared their PAN details. JD(U) has 9 out of 26, SP has 7 out of 60, BJP has 7 out of 60, INC has 7 out of 51, Bundelkhand Congress has 4 out of 5 and RLD has 1 out 10, BSP has 2 out 60 candidates analysed who have not declared their PAN card details.

Top three candidates with maximum assets, but have not declared their PAN card details are Kunwar Sarvesh Kumar of BJP contesting from Thakurdwara constituency with highest assets worth Rs 4.34 crore, followed by Naseer Ahmed Khan of SP from Muradnagar with assets of Rs 3.48 crore and Rafatulla of BJP from Sambhal with Rs 2.55 crore respectively.