Bihar is set to vote in the first phase of three-phase assembly elections on October 28. A total of 1,066 candidates are in the fray for the 71 seats going to the polls in phase one.
Before the voters turn up to the polling booths and cast their vote, here is a detailed look at criminal cases, education, financial background and other details of candidates on the basis of a survey report issued by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
The report analyzes 1,064 out of 1,066 candidates on the basis of disclosures made in their election affidavit. The report does not analyse two candidates – Congress’ Fulena Singh contesting from Lakhisarai seat and Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Prahlad Yadav contesting from Suryagarha seat -- as their affidavits were either badly scanned or not uploaded entirely on the website of the Election Commission of India. Take a look:
Criminal background
Out of all candidates analyzed, 328 candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves. This makes 31 percent of all the contenders.
Going party-wise, 30 (73%) out of 41 candidates analysed from Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), 21 (72%) out of 29 candidates analysed from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), 24 (59%) out of 41 candidates analysed from Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), 12 (57%) out of 21 candidates analysed from Congress, 15 (43%) out of 35 candidates analysed from Janata Dal (United) and 8 (31%) out of 26 candidates analysed from Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.
Red Alert Constituencies: There are 61 out of 71 constituencies which are Red Alert constituencies, which means these seats, at 86 percent, have three or more contesting candidates with criminal cases against them.
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Financial background
Out of the 1064 candidates, 375 are crorepatis, which means 35 percent of contenders have declared assets worth more than Rs 1 crore.
Going party-wise, 39 (95%) out of 41 candidates analysed from RJD, 31 (89%) out of 35 candidates analysed from JD(U), 24 (83%) out of 29 candidates analysed from BJP, 30 (73%) out of 41 candidates analysed from LJP, 14 (67%) out of 21 candidates analysed from Congress and 12 (46%) out of 26 candidates from BSP are crorepatis.
The top candidate with highest declared assets is RJD’s Anant Kumar Singh, contesting on Mokama constituency. His total asset is Rs 68,56,78,795.
The average of assets per candidate contesting in the first phase of Bihar Assembly Elections is Rs 1.99 crores.
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Education
A total of 455 (43%) candidates have declared their educational qualifications to be between 5th and 12th standard pass, while 522 (49%) candidates have declared having an educational qualification of graduate or above. As many as 74 candidates have declared to be just literate and five candidates are illiterate. Also, seven candidates are Diploma holders.
A candidate named Bindu Vikash Atal of Jagrook Janta Party from Bodh Gaya constituency has not declared his education details in his affidavit.
Age
There are 403 (38%) candidates who have their age between 25 to 40 years while 548 (52%) candidates have declared their age to be between 41 to 60 years. There are 112 (11%) candidates who have declared their age to be between 61 to 80 years. Just one candidate has declared his age 82 years.
Gender representation
Out of the 1064 contesting candidates, 114 are female. This means, 11% female candidates are contesting in the first phase of the Bihar assembly election 2020.
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