61 winning candidates in Rajasthan face criminal cases: ADR

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In Rajasthan, a total of 61 candidates who won the state assembly elections on December 3 have criminal cases registered against them, of which 44 are facing serious criminal charges, according to a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

The report by the election watchdog reveals that one of the winning candidates has declared facing a case related to murder, seven have cases of attempted murder against them, while six winning candidates have declared in their affidavits facing cases related to crimes against women.

Giving party-wise details of candidates, ADR says, “Of the 115 winning candidates of the BJP, 35 have criminal cases, 20 are from Congress, 2 from Bharat Adivasi Party, while 1 is from the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party and 3 are independent candidates.”

However, in terms of serious criminal cases, 24 candidates are from the BJP, and 16 out of the 69 candidates are from the Congress party.

The report also says that of the total 199 candidates elected to the 200-member House in Rajasthan, 169 (85 percent) are crorepatis, while there were 158 crorepati MLAs during the 2018 assembly elections in the state.

“BJP has 101 crorepati winning candidates, while 58 are from the Congress party, and seven out of eight are independent winning candidates who have assets worth more than Rs. 1 crore,” says ADR.

The average assets per winning candidate in the Rajasthan Assembly Elections in 2023 is Rs. 7.78 crore, while the average assets per MLA during 2018 was Rs 7.39 crore.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stormed back to power with a resounding mandate in Rajasthan, winning 115 seats out of the 199 seats in the legislative election on December 3.

The Congress won 69 assembly seats as the desert state stuck to a nearly 30-year-old tradition of not voting an incumbent party back to power.

Veteran Congress leader Ashok Gehlot has been the desert state’s chief minister three times, while Vasundhara Raje from the BJP has held the position twice during this period.