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The Bharatiya Janata Party which got a simple majority in the election has the maximum number of candidates with criminal cases registered against them. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
A report by the Association for Democratic Reforms reveals that of the 541 winners in the Lok Sabha elections, 186 or 34 per cent of them have criminal cases registered against them. And most of these candidates belong to the Bharatiya Janata Party, which has been voted to power.
The report states that 112 or 21 per cent of the winning candidates have serious criminal cases registered against them, including cases related to murder, attempt to murder, communal disharmony, kidnapping and crimes against women.
The report reveals that nine winners have cases of murder filed against them. Out of these, four have been fielded by the BJP, while the Congress, the Lok Janshakti Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Swabhimani Paksha have each fielded one tainted candidate. An independent candidate too has a case of murder registered against him.
The analysis also revealed that 17 winners had cases of attempt to murder registered against them of which 10 candidates belong to the the BJP, two to the Trinamool Congress and one each from the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Shiv Sena and the Swabhimani Paksha.
Complete Coverage: Elections 2014
Joyce George, an independent candidate from the Idukki constituency in Kerala, has a case of assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty registered against him. Ahir Hasnrah Gangaram of the BJP from Chandrapur in Maharashtra has a case of kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman to compel her marriage filed against him.
The report also revealed that 16 winners have cases of causing communal disharmony against them. Of these 16, 12 have been fielded by the BJP, while the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, the Pattali Makkal Katchi, India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen and the All India United Democratic Front have fieled one candidate each.
In addition to religious crimes, 10 winners have cases related to robbery and dacoity filed against them and seven winners have cases related to kidnapping registered against them.
Giving a party wise break-up, the report reveals that of the 281 winners from the BJP, 98 have cases against them, whereas from the 44 winners of the Congress, 8 have criminal cases against them. From the 37 winners from the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, 6 have cases against them, while of the 18 Shiv Sena winners, 15 are tainted.
The report also said that the chances of a tainted candidate winning the polls were 13 per cent, whereas there was only a mere 5 per cent chance that a candidate with a clean past would win.
Financial backgrounds:
The report also revealed that of the 541 winners, 442 have assets running into the crores, with the average assets per winner being Rs 14.61 crore. Of these, Jayadev Galla from the Telugu Desam Party, who won from Guntur, is the richest with assets worth Rs 638 crore, followed by KV Reddy, who won from Malkajgiri in Telangana, with assets worth Rs 528 crore.
The average asset worth of 281 BJP winners was Rs 11.59 crore, while that of 44 Congress winners was Rs 16.71 crore. The average asset worth of 37 All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam winners was Rs 6.47 crore, while 34 TMC winners have assets worth Rs 2.51 crore.