50 pc winners in Punjab declared criminal cases against themselves, says ADR
New Delhi, March 15
About 45 per cent candidates who won the recent assembly polls in five states have declared criminal cases against themselves, poll-rights group Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) said on Tuesday.
The National Election Watch and Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) have analysed the self-sworn affidavits of all 690 winning candidates in the assembly elections of Goa, Manipur, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.
In Punjab, 50 per cent of the winning candidates declared criminal cases while 23 per cent declared serious criminal cases against themselves, it said.
Of the 690 candidates in five states, 219 (32 per cent) winning candidates have declared serious criminal cases against themselves, it said.
Of the 312 winning candidates who declared criminal cases against themselves, 134 are from BJP, 71 from the Samajwadi Party, 52 from the Aam Aadmi Party, 24 from the Congress and seven from RLD, it said.
It said around 87 per cent or 598 winning candidates are crorepatis and the average asset of a winning candidate is Rs 8.7 crore.
In Goa, 40 per cent of winning candidates declared criminal cases against themselves, while 33 per cent declared serious criminal cases.
In UP, 51 per cent of the winners declared criminal cases, while 39 per cent declared serious criminal cases against themselves, it said.
As many as 27 per cent of the winners in the Uttarakhand polls declared criminal cases against themselves and 14 per cent declared serious criminal cases.
Likewise in Manipur, 23 per cent candidates who won declared criminal cases while 18 per cent declared serious criminal cases against themselves, it added.
As many as 33 winning candidates, including 29 from Uttar Pradesh, declared cases related to attempt to murder and 12, including six from UP, declared cases related to crime against women.
Six winning candidates declared cases related to murder in their affidavits, it said.
The BJP swept UP, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa in the assembly polls while AAP recorded a landslide victory in Punjab.
