Lucknow: Crorepatis and criminal glare among in the list of candidates contesting in the fourth phase of Uttar Pradesh assembly polls. In this phase, more crorepatis than criminals have been fielded by various political parties on 59 assembly seats of 16 districts going for polls on Sunday.
The UP Elections Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms has released a report based on the affidavit submitted by 621 candidates of the total 624 candidates in the fray.
As per this report of 621 candidates fielded by various parties 167 or 27 per cent have criminal cases lodged against them. Serious criminal cases are lodged against 29 candidates in this phase of elections. Among the parties, the Congress has fielded 31 of 58 candidates with criminal past while Samajwadi party has given tickets to 30 such candidates. Of the total 59 candidates from Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) 26 have criminal cases against them followed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which has fielded 40 per cent of candidates with grey past.
The report further stated that among the 621 candidates in the fourth phase, 37 per cent are millionaire having assets of more than Rs one crore. Ruling BJP tops the list among the parties giving tickets to the rich with 50 of its 57 candidates in this phase of elections having assets of more than Rs one crore. The SP has given tickets to 84 per cent while BSP to 75 per cent crorepatis in this phase. Among the rich candidates fielded by Congress, 28 of 58 have assets of more than Rs one crore. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has fielded 16 crorepatis in this phase of elections.
The wealthiest of all among the candidates in the fourth phase is Rajiv Buxi of AAP contesting from Lucknow West assembly seat with an asset of Rs 57 crore followed by Anup Gupta of SP from Sitapur with Rs 56 crore. BSP candidate from Hardoi, Shobhit Pathak, has declared his asset of Rs 34 crore in the affidavit submitted during nomination.
As per the ADR report a maximum of candidates in this phase have qualifications of graduation or above and are young. In the fourth phase, 60 per cent of candidates are having qualification of graduation or above and 36 per cent of them are between the age of 25 to 40 years.
