Maharashtra Assembly Election: 1,007 crorepati candidates, 916 with criminal cases are in the fray

Extensive poll campaigning in Maharashtra have come to a close and the state is set to vote on October 21 to elect a fresh assembly of 289 members, including a nominated one. For the 288 seats, a total of 3,237 candidates are fighting the ballot battle.

Before voters turn up to polling booths and cast their vote, here is a detailed look at criminal cases, 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 3,112 out of 3,237 candidates on the basis of disclosures made in their self-sworn election affidavit. Out of all 3,112 candidates analysed, 692 are from national parties, 300 are from state parties, 761 are from registered unrecognized parties and 1,359 candidates are contesting independently.

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The report does not analyse 125 candidates due to unavailability of their complete and properly scanned affidavit on the website of the Election Commission of India. Take a look:

Criminal background

Out of all candidates analyzed, 916 candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves. This makes 29 percent of all contenders.

Going party-wise, 96 (59%) out of 162 candidates analysed from Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), 83 (57%) out of 147 candidates from Indian National Congress (INC), 75 (61%) out of 124 candidates from Shiv Sena, 40 (35%) out of 116 candidates from Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), 34 (34%) out of 99 candidates from Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), 41 (17%) out of 246 candidates from Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and 193(14%) out of 1359 independent candidates have declared criminal cases in their affidavits.

Red Alert Constituencies: There are 176 out of 288 constituencies which are Red Alert constituencies, which means these seats, at 61 percent, have three or more candidates with criminal cases against them.

2014 vs 2019: In the last state assembly polls, 798 out of 2,366 candidates, analysed by ADR, had declared criminal cases against themselves, which was 34 percent. This means the percentage of such candidates has come down by five percent from 34 percent in 2014 to 29 percent in 2019.

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Financial background

Out of the 3,112 candidates analysed, 1,007 are crorepatis, which means 32 percent of contenders have declared assets worth more than Rs 1 crore.

Going party-wise, 155 (96%) out of 162 candidates analysed from BJP, 126 (86%) out of 147 candidates from INC, 116 (94%) out of 124 candidates from Shiv Sena, 101 (87%) out of 116 candidates from NCP and 52  (53%) out of 99 candidates from MNS are crorepatis.

Zero assets: There are 59 candidates who have declared zero assets.

2014 vs 2019: In the last state assembly polls, 1,095 out of 2,366 candidates, analysed by ADR, had declared assets worth more than Rs 1 crore, which was 47 percent. This means the percentage of such candidates has come down by 15 percent from 47 percent in 2014 to 32 percent in 2019.

Education

A total of 1,629 (52%) candidates have declared their educational qualification to be between 5th and 12th, while 1,286 (41%) candidates have declared having an educational qualification of graduate or above. Around 76 candidates are diploma holders and 84 candidates are literate. There are 36 candidates who are illiterate while one candidate has not given his educational qualification details.