After the conclusion of three phases of the crucial Lok Sabha elections, the nation is heading towards the fourth phase scheduled on April 29.
A total of 943 candidates of different political parties are fighting in the ballot battle in phase 4 of the ongoing general elections. Their fate will be sealed by the people of 71 constituencies across eight states.
Before the voters turn up to the polling booths and cast their vote, here is a detailed look on the 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 928 of the total 943 candidates, who are contesting in the fourth phase on the basis of disclosures made in their respective election affidavit. Of all the 928 candidates analysed, 205 are from national parties, 48 are from state parties, 330 are from registered unrecognized parties, and 345 candidates are contesting independently.
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The report does not analyse 15 candidates as their affidavits were either badly scanned or their complete affidavit was not uploaded on the website of the Election Commission of India.
Here are the details:
Criminal background
Of all candidates analyzed, 210 candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves. This makes 23 percent of all contenders in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections.
Going party-wise, 25 (44%) out of the 57 candidates from the BJP; 18 (32%) out of the 57 candidates from the Congress, 11 (20%) out of the 54 candidates from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), 12 (57%) out of the 21 candidates analysed from the Shiv Sena, and 60 (17%) out of the 345 Independents have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.
Red Alert Constituencies: Of the 71 constituencies, 37 are red alert constituencies, which means these seats have three or more candidates with criminal cases against them.
Financial background
Of the 928 candidates, 306 are crorepatis. It means 33 percent of the contenders have declared assets worth more than Rs one crore.
Going party-wise, 50 (88%) out of the 57 candidates from the Congress, 50 (88%) out of the 57 candidates from the BJP, 20 (37%) out of the 54 candidates from the BSP, 13 (62%) out of the 21 candidates from the Shiv Sena and 8 (80%) out of 10 candidates from the Samajwadi Party (SP) have declared assets worth more than Rs one crore.
Education
404 (44%) candidates have declared their educational qualification to be between class 5 and class 12, while 454 (49%) candidates have declared having an educational qualification of graduate and/or above. 34 candidates have declared to be just literate and 9 candidates are illiterate.
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