As many as 63 (18%) candidates have declared criminal cases and 39 (11%) serious criminal cases against them in the by-poll for 28 assembly constituencies. There are 355 candidates in the fray.
The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has done analysis of criminal background, financial and education status of the candidates.
According to the ADR report, 50% (14) out of 28 Congress candidates contesting the bypolls have criminal cases against them. BJP has fielded 43% (12) contestants with criminal background. BSP and SP have fielded 29% candidates with criminal cases. Overall 16 (9%) out of total 178 from independent candidates have criminal cases against them.
ADR has classified serious criminal cases separately which include offence for which maximum punishment is of 5 years or more. Non-bailable offences, crime against women, murder, kidnap and offences related to loss to state exchequer and electoral offenses are put in this category.
11% (39) have declared serious criminal cases, the number of BJP candidates stands at 8 (29%) and Congress 6 (21%).
3 (11%) of the 28 BSP candidates analysed, 4(29%) out of 14 SP candidates and 13(7%) out of 178 Independent candidates analysed are charged with serious criminal offences. One candidate has been charged with murder and seven attempt to murder.
10 (36%) out of 28 constituencies are in Red alert constituencies. Red alert constituencies are those where 3 or more contesting candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves.
80 crorepatis contesting by-polls; BJP accounts for 82%, Congress 79 %
Premchand Guddu of Congress contesting from Sanwer is the richest candidate in the by-polls with total assets of more than Rs 86 crores. Susheel Prasad of Bhartiya Amrit Party, in fray from Biaora has total assets of Rs 15 crore while Rajvardhan Singh Dattigaon of BJP contesting from Badnawar ranks third in high asset candidates, with total assets worth more than Rs 13 crore.
Prabhuram Chowdhary of BJP has the highest income (as per ITR records) among candidates in 28 constituencies. Chowdhary, contesting from Sanchi, has income of Rs 84 lakh per annum.
Congress Mandhata candidate Uttampal Singh has income of Rs 30 lakh while Pooran Singh Ahirwar stands third in income with Rs 49 lakh per annum.
Out of total 355 candidates, 80 (23%) are crorepatis. Among the major parties 23 (82%) out of 28 candidates analysed are from BJP, 22(79%) candidates contesting from Congress ticket are crorepatis. 13(46%) from BSP, 2 (14%) out of 14candidates analysed from SP and 14(8%) out of 178 Independent candidates have declared assets worth more than Rs 1 crore.
The average of assets per candidate contesting in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly by elections is Rs 1.10 Crores. Among major parties, the average assets per candidate for 28 INC candidates analysed is Rs. 5.82crore, 28 BJP candidates analysed is Rs 3.17crore, 28 BSP candidates have average assets of Rs 1.56crores, 14 SP candidates have average assets of Rs 33.87 lakh and 178 Independent candidates have average assets of Rs. 32.10lakhs
6 candidates with assets worth more than Rs 2crore have not declared Income Tax details.
A total of 48(14%) candidates have not disclosed their PAN details
55% contestants qualified till class 12
4 candidates are illiterate
As many as 195 (55%) candidates have declared their educational qualification to be between 5th and 12th standard while 131(37%) candidates have declared having an educational qualification of graduate or above. 21 candidates have declared themselves to be just literates and 4 candidates are illiterate.
As many as 158 (45%) candidates have declared their age to be between 25 to 40 years while 160 (45%) candidates have declared their age to be between 41 to 60 years. There are 37 (10%) candidates who have declared their age to be between 61 to 80 years.
In all 22 female candidates that constitutes to 6% of the total, are in the fray in the Madhya Pradesh assembly by-elections of 28 constituencies.
