Tripura polls: 13 Cong candidates have criminal records

The Indian National Congress leads the political pack with most number of candidates who will contest the Tripura Assembly elections to be held in March. The Association for Democratic Reforms in its analysis of these candidates states that out of the 249 candidates who have been given tickets, 19 have declared criminal cases against them.

The Congress has 13 such candidates while the Bharatiya Janata Party has one.

In the 2008 assembly elections, 3 per cent of the contesting candidates (out of 301 candidates) had declared criminal cases against them.

Crorepati candidates:

Out of these 249 contesting candidates, 16 (or 6 per cent) are crorepatis. In 2008, there were 2 per cent crorepati candidates (out of 301 candidates who contested in 2008).

High asset candidates:

The top three candidates with the highest declared assets are (in decreasing order): Biplab Kumar Gosh of INC from Matarbari constituency who has declared assets worth Rs 9.29 crore, followed by DilipSarkar of INC from Badarghat (SC) constituency with Rs 4.58 crore worth of assets and PranajitSingha Roy of INC from Radhakishorpur constituency with assets worth Rs 4.03 crore.

Low asset candidates:

A total of 66 candidates out of 249 analysed have declared assets less than Rs 1 lakh.

Babul Banik Gopalbhai Solanki of SUCI(C) from Suryamaninagar constituency has declared that he has zero assets followed by Pranesh Das of Amraa Bangalee from Pabiachara (SC) with assets of only Rs 100 and ShibaniBhaumik of SUCI(C) from Town Bardowali with assets worth Rs 500.

Liabilities:

A total of 17 candidates out of 249 analysed have declared liabilities of Rs 10 lakh or above.

High liability candidates:

The top three candidates with the highest declared liabilities are (in decreasing order): Satyaban Das, an INC candidate from Pabiachara (SC) constituency has declared the highest liabilities worth Rs 51.17 lakh followed by Himani Debbarma of INC from Charilam constituency with liabilities of Rs 37.24 lakh and Jitendra Chaudhuri  a Communist Party of India-Marxist candidate from Manu (ST) constituency with liabilities of Rs 28.24 lakh.

Party-wise average assets:

Among major parties, the average asset per candidate for INC is Rs 98.07 lakh, for BJP is 10.06 lakh, for CPM it is 28.98 lakh, and for Indigenous People's Front of Tripura is Rs 4.21 lakh.

Undeclared PAN:

Of the 249 candidates contesting the Tripura 2013 assembly elections, 127 (51%) candidates have not declared their PAN details.

Undeclared PAN party-wise:

Of the 48 candidates of the INC, 13 have not declared their PAN. For CPM it is 29 out of 55, for BJP 31 out of 50 and for INPT 3 out of 12 have not declared PAN details.

High income candidates:

Biplab Kumar Ghosh of INC from Matarbari constituency has declared the highest income worth Rs 40.77 lakh in his last income tax return. He is followed by Satyaban Das of INC from Pabiachara constituency with declared income of Rs 38.24 lakh and Pranajit Singha Roy of INC from Radhakishorpur constituency with total income worth Rs 30.38 lakh.

Income-tax not filed candidates:

A total of 218 candidates (88 per cent) out of the 249 candidates analysed by the Tripura Election Watch have declared that they have never filed income tax returns.

Income-tax not filed party-wise: Out of these 218 candidates who have never filed income tax returns, CPM has the maximum number of candidates 51 (93 per cent of the 55 candidates analysed) followed by the BJP with 46 (92 per cent of the 50 candidates analysed) candidates.

High assets but no income-tax:

Top three candidates with maximum assets but who have never filed IT returns are Dilip Sarkar of INC contesting from Badharghat (SC) constituency with total assets of Rs 4.58 crore. He is followed by Bilal Mia of INC from Boxanagar with assets of Rs 3.06 crore and SujitPaulan independent from Town Bardowaliwith Rs 1.82 crore respectively.

Asset comparison:

Candidates contesting again:

Of the re-contesting (candidates who fought elections in 2008 and now in 2013 are again in the fray) candidates, 104 have been analyzed for the Tripura Assembly Elections 2013.

Average assets in 2008 elections:

The average assets of these 104 re-contesting candidates fielded by various parties in 2008 was Rs 22,90,289 (22.90 lakh)

Average assets in 2013 elections:

The average assets of these 104 re-contesting candidates now in 2013 is Rs 41,56,073 (41.56 lakh)

Average asset growth in 5 years (2008-2013):

The average asset growth the 104 re-contesting candidates between the Tripura Assembly Elections of 2008 and 2013, is Rs 18,65,784 (18.65 lakh)

Percentage growth in 5 years (2008-2013):

Average percentage growth in assets for these 104 re-contesting candidates is 85 per cent.

Highest growth in assets in 5 years (2008-2013):

Billal Mia of INC from Boxanagar constituency has declared maximum increase in assets with an increase of Rs 2.67 crore i.e from Rs 38.53 lakh in 2008 to Rs 3.06 crore in 2013.

Assets of Dilip Sarkar (of INC from Badharghat) have increased by Rs 2.03 crore, from Rs 2.54 crore in 2008 to Rs 4.58 crore in 2013. Assets of PranajitSingha Roy (of INC from Radhakishorepur) have risen by Rs 1.51 crore, from Rs 2.51 crore in 2008 to Rs 4.03 crore in 2013.

Highest percentage growth in 5 years (2008-2013):

The highest percentage increase (89.88 per cent) in assets has been declared by Subodh Das of CPM from Panisagar constituency. Subodh Das’s assets increased from Rs 3000 in 2008 to Rs 3.14 lakh in 2013. Prakash Chandra Das of INC from Bamutia (SC) constituency has declared an increase in assets of 71.07%. His assets have risen from Rs 84,000 in 2008 to Rs 61.18 lakh in 2013. KeshabDebbarma of CPMfrom Golaghati (SC) constituency falls at third position with 59.45 per cent increase in assets; his assets have grown from Rs 61,000 in 2008 to Rs 37.35 lakh in 2013.

Asset decrease in 5 years (2008-2013):

Twenty two candidates have reported decrease in assets in 2013 as compared to value of assets in 2008. Among them the highest decrease has been shown by Shibani Baumik (almost 100% decline in assets, Rs 5.35 lakh in 2008 to Rs 500 in 2013) an independent from Town Bardowali constituency, SamirBiswas (99 per cent reduction in assets, from Rs 12.30 lakh in 2008 election to Rs10,000 in 2013) of BJP from Bamutia, and SubalSarkar (99 per cent decline in assets, Rs 4.18 lakh in 2008 to Rs 3,000 in 2012) of Amra Bangalee from Badharghat constituency.