288 crorepati candidates in second phase for LS

BHUBANESWAR: Most of the major political parties have fielded candidates with criminal records, with top four parties being Congress (40), Bahujan Samajwadi Party (31), Bhartiya Janata Party (27), Samajwadi Party (13) according to an analysis of candidates��� profile for the second phase of polls done by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch (NEW), a nationwide campaign comprising of more than 1200 NGOs and other citizen led organizations.

In the second phase of poll for which voting will be held on Thursday, there are 288 candidates with criminal records accounting for 17.63 % of 1633 candidates. In phase 1, there were 222 candidates with criminal records (i.e 16% of 1425 candidates). Not surprisingly, Bihar is at the top with 60 such candidates (or 33%) followed by Maharastra with 58 (18.91%), UP with 39(21.43%) and Jharkhand with 34 (36.96%)

Incidentally, there are the same 288 crorepati candidates (17.63% of total candidates) are contesting second phase polls across the state. The Congress has highest 65 crorepati candidates followed by BJP [46], BSP [28] and SP [16] such candidates. In first Phase 1, there were 193 crorepati candidates.



Interestingly, 58.2% candidates have not furnished their PAN card details and there are only 121 women candidates accounting for abysmal six per cent of total candidates.

Percentage of contesting crorepatis in second phase is at 17.63% compared to 14% in first phase of polling to Lok Sabha. Among major parties, the average asset per candidate for NCP is Rs 11.8 crore, JD(S) is Rs 11.6 cr, Praja Rajyam Party PRAP] is Rs 9.3 cr, BJD is Rs 5.8 cr, Congress is Rs 5.3 cr and BJP is Rs 2.3 crore.

There are a total of 46 Red Alert constituencies in Phase 2 where there are 3 or more candidates contesting with criminal background. Bihar has 11 such constituencies, Maharashtra has 10 and Jharkhand has seven such constituencies. Muzaffarpur (Bihar) Lok Sabha will see battle of ballots among the highest 10 candidates with criminal background contesting.

There are 356 charges of heinous nature on the candidates which includes, murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, extortion, etc.