As per an analysis carried out by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), the Congress party has the highest count of nominees in Bengaluru with criminal records. While the Congress ranks first when it comes to the number of candidates with criminal backgrounds, the BJP is ahead in the tally of candidates who are crorepatis.
The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) in association with Karnataka Election Watch and Bengaluru Election Watch scrutinised the affidavits of 384 out of 389 candidates contesting from 28 Assembly constituencies within Bengaluru.
The report from ADR, which was made public on Sunday, disclosed that the analysis was carried out on 384 candidates as the affidavits of the remaining five contenders were either improperly scanned or incomplete and thus could not be examined thoroughly. The analysis was conducted by referring relevant documents that were uploaded on the website of the Election Commission of India (ECI).
The evaluation of Bengaluru carried out by the ADR revealed that 92 contestants (24% of the total) have claimed to hold criminal cases, while 57 candidates (15% of the total) have claimed to hold serious criminal cases.
According to ADR’s assessment, the Congress party presented 27 candidates in Bengaluru, out of which 19 nominees, which accounts to 70 % of the total have criminal charges against them. Furthermore, 10 out of 27 Congress candidates, which accounts to 37% of the total have serious criminal charges registered against them.
As per ADR’s analysis, the self-sworn affidavits of three political parties revealed that 50 percent (14 candidates) of the BJP, 38 percent (24 candidates) of the Janata Dal (Secular), and 32 percent (9 candidates) of the Aam Aadmi Party have been reported to have criminal cases.
The report from ADR emphasised that among the prominent political parties, 9 of 28 BJP candidates, 10 of 27 Congress candidates, 8 of 24 Janata Dal (Secular) candidates, and 4 percent 1 of 28 Aam Aadmi Party candidates had disclosed serious criminal cases in their self-sworn affidavits.
The independent candidates are also not immune to such issues as well. As per the ADR’s analysis, 14 percent of them have criminal cases and 10 percent have serious criminal cases.
Finally, the ADR’s analysis states that five candidates have cases related to crimes against women, four candidates have cases related to murder, and nine candidates have cases related to attempted murder.
Meanwhile, as per the Karnataka Election Watch, Bengaluru and ADR, which analysed the self-sworn affidavits of 384 out of 389 candidates, contesting in the 28 constituencies of Bengaluru region, 157 candidates, which is 41 per cent of the total candidates analysed, are crorepatis.
Further, it stated that among major parties, the average assets for 27 Congress candidates analysed is Rs. 145.26 Crore, 28 BJP candidates analysed is Rs. 63 Crore, and 24 JD (S) candidates have average assets of Rs 54.97 Crore.