Politics: 36% of RS candidates declared criminal cases against themselves!

Virendra Pandit 

New Delhi: Are our lawmakers also lawbreakers?

Election rights body Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has revealed that 36 percent of Rajya Sabha candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves while the average assets of candidates analyzed stood at Rs 127.81 crore.

The ADR and the National Election Watch analyzed the self-sworn affidavits of 58 out of the 59 candidates in the fray for 56 seats in 15 states for the biennial elections to the Upper House scheduled for February 27.

Congress candidate from Karnataka G C Chandrashekar was omitted from the analysis due to poorly scanned documents, the media reported on Saturday.

Their analysis found that 36 percent of the scrutinized candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves.

Besides, 17 percent of these individuals face serious criminal charges with one candidate having cases related to attempted murder.

According to the analysis, eight (27 percent) out of 30 BJP candidates, six (67 percent) out of nine Congress candidates, one (25 percent) out of four TMC candidates, two (67 percent) out of three SP candidates, one (33 percent) out of three YSRCP candidates, one (50 percent) out of two RJD nominees, one (50 percent) out of two BJD candidates, and one (100 percent) BRS candidate have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

The analysis also delved into the financial backgrounds of the candidates.

Around 21 percent of the candidates are billionaires, boasting assets exceeding Rs 100 crore. The average assets of Rajya Sabha candidates stand at Rs 127.81 crore.

Congress nominee from Himachal Pradesh Abhishek Manu Singhvi with total assets worth Rs 1,872 crore, Samajwadi Party nominee from Uttar Pradesh Jaya Amitabh Bachchan with assets worth Rs 1,578 crore, and JD(S) nominee from Karnataka Kupendra Reddy with assets amounting to Rs 871 crore are the top three wealthiest candidates, according to the analysis.

Among the poorest candidates are BJP’s Madhya Pradesh RS candidate Balyogi Umesh Nath with assets worth over Rs 47 lakh, BJP’s West Bengal candidate Samik Bhattacharya, worth Rs 1 crore, and BJP’s Uttar Pradesh candidate Sangita with assets worth Rs 1 crore.

While 17 percent of the candidates have educational qualifications ranging from 5th pass to 12th pass, a significant 79 percent hold graduate or higher degrees.

A majority (76 percent) of the candidates fall in the 51-70 age group with a smaller proportion (16 percent) in the 31-50 age group. Only 19 percent of the candidates are women, according to the analysis.