Tainted, billionaire candidates on rise in seventh phase

A total of 30 percent of the main candidates in the seventh phase of Uttar Pradesh’s assembly eletions have a criminal background, and 52 percent are billionaires.

Data released by think tank Association for Democratic Research and National Election Watch (ADRNEW), which has analysed 325 of the 962 candidates foraying in this phase, also shows all major political parties have given tickets to tainted candidates.

The total number of tainted candidates is 98.

“Amongst major parties, every party has given tickets to candidates who have declared criminal cases. The Samajwadi Party has 27 such candidates, the BJP has 20, BSP has 13, Congress has 14, and the Congress ally RLD has four,” a statement from the think tank said.

Of these 98 candidates with declared criminal cases, 37 have declared serious criminal cases like murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, rape, robbery, extortion etc. are pending against them. The Samajwadi party has 12 such candidates, the BJP has 6, BSP has 4, Congress has 3, RLD has 2, JD-U has 3, Peace Party has 5 and Rastriya Parivartan Dal has one.

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

The number of candidates recontesting in this phase is 47, and the average increase in their assets in the last five years is Rs.3.61 crore.