With Gujarat just 10 days shy of first-phase polling inassembly elections, the stage is set for voters to choose from a variety ofcandidates in fray ” and a wide variety it sure seems. With merely 29 percentcandidates being graduates, and 22 percent in all having criminal records, thevoters have a lot on their plate to pick and choose from.
The NGO Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and GujaratElection Watch (GEW) have come up with a report giving details of criminalcases pending against the candidates in fray, along with their total assets andliabilities. Affidavits of 482 candidates of the total 846 contestants onDecember 13 were analysed as part of the report.
We cull out some of the highlights:
Criminal background
104 out of 482 candidates analysed (22%) have declaredcriminal cases against them.
46 have serious criminal cases ” murder, attempt to murder,kidnapping, robbery, extortion etc. Keshubhai Patel’s new Gujarat ParivartanParty (GPP) leads the race with 11, BJP has 9, Congress 8, JD (U) 6, NCP 2 andBSP has one candidate with such cases against them.
Vasava Chhotubhai Amarsinh of JD(U), contesting fromJhagadia(ST) constituency, has declared three charges of murder and one chargerelated to attempt to murder. Fellow JD(U) contestant Maheshbhai ChhotubhaiVasava from Dediapada (ST) constituency has declared two charges related tomurder and one attempt to murder, while Altaf Gafurbhai Patel of the same party(contesting from Vagra constituency) has declared one murder charge.
Almost every major party has given tickets to candidateswith criminal records. While Congress is in the forefront with 27 out of 83(33%) candidates with criminal records, the BJP is a close second with 22 outof 87 (25%), BSP 7 of 78 (9%), JD(U) 7 of 29 (24 %), SP 5 of 19 (26%), NCP 2 of3 (67 %) and GPP has 21 out of 83 (25%)of its candidates with declared criminal cases against them.
Candidate with cases under Prevention of Corruption Act:Barad Jashabhai Bhanabhai of the Congress, in fray from Somnath constituency.
Assets & liabilities
Of 482 candidates analysed for the first phase, 147 (or 30%)candidates are “crorepatis”.
Maximum asset: Rajguru Indranil Sanjaybhai of Congress fromRajkot-East constituency, who has declared assets worth Rs 122 crore, followedby fellow Congressman Chavada Javaharbhai Pethalajibhai (Manavadarconstituency) with Rs 82 crore and BSP’s Rajabhai Parbatbhai Parmar (Somnath)with Rs 40 crore.
Only 39 candidates have declared assets less than Rs 1 lakh.
Minimum asset: Mineshbhai Maganbhai Patel of GPP (Valsadconstituency), has declared that he has zero assets, followed by BismillaAbdulkhan Pathan (Independent) from Rajkot South constituency with assets worthonly Rs 1,000.
47 of 482 candidates analysed have declared liabilities ofRs 50 lakh or above.
Biggest liabilities: Rajguru Indranil Sanjaybhai (Cong) fromRajkot East has declared Rs 27.14 crore in liabilities, followed byJitendrabhai Kantilal Somani of BJP (Wankaner constituency) with liabilities ofRs 17.69 crore and Kamabhai Gagjibhai Rathod of BJP (Sanand constituency) withRs 12.45 crore.
Average asset per candidate: Rs 6.40 crore for Congress, Rs4.48 crore for BJP, Rs 1.07 crore for GPP, Rs 75.39 lakh for BSP, Rs 22.61 lakhfor JD(U), Rs 19.54 lakh for SP, and Rs 10.43 crore for NCP.
Educational qualification
139 9%)candidates are graduates or have higher educational qualification.
Whither women?
Only 27 (6%) women candidates in fray. If that’s horrendous,what’s even more so is it’s worse than 2007 when 46 out of 553 (8%) candidateswere women.
in association with Governance Now
