Mumbai: With only four days left for the penultimate phase of the Lok Sabha elections, a report revealed,189 out of total 976 candidates, contesting in the sixth phase of the polls have declared in their affidavits, the criminal cases filed against them. However, all the major political parties are indifferent to the criminal records of their candidates. Out of the 54 candidates that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have fielded for the sixth phase, 26 of them have criminal cases against them. With a rate of 48 per cent, BJP has fielded the most number of candidates with criminal cases.
The analysis carried out by the Association for Democratic reforms (ADR) also showed, out of the 46 candidates of Congress party, 20 have criminal charges against them and out of 49 candidates from Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), 19 have declared criminal cases against them. Out of the charged 189 candidates, 146 of them have declared serious criminal cases against them. These are non-bailable offences related to assault, murder, rape and kidnap, which entails a jail term of minimum five-years as punishment.
Four candidates have declared convicted cases against them. 25 candidates have cases related to attempt to murder against them and six candidates have declared cases of murder. Five other candidates have cases related to kidnapping or abducting in order to murder. According to the analysis, 21 candidates have declared cases of violence against women, which includes, outraging a woman’s modesty, husband or relative of a woman subjecting to her cruelty and acts intended to insult the modesty of a woman. Out of these, 21 candidates, two of them have declared cases of rape in their names. Meanwhile, 34 per cent of candidates with criminal cases, are contesting in the forthcoming polls in West Bengal and Bihar. Out of 59 constituencies, 34 have been declared as ‘Red alert’, which is when three or more candidates have declared criminal cases against them from the same constituency.
