Power as a weapon
With the first phase of the Jharkhand assembly election over yesterday and the Maharashtra polls scheduled for November 20, a scrutiny of candidates’ affidavits has once again sparked public interest.
As many as 130 candidates facing declared criminal cases, 90 of them involving serious charges like attempt to murder, are among the 1,079 candidates in the fray for the second phase of Chhattisgarh Assembly polls in 72 constituencies.
A total of 239 crorepati (multi-millionaire) candidates are contesting the second phase of polls to be held on Nov 20 in 19 districts.
According to an analysis by election watchdog the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), the Congress with 18 such candidates leads the list of those with criminal antecedents followed by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) with 17 and the Janta Congress Chhattisgarh (J) with 15. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has 6 such candidates.
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Of the 90 candidates facing serious criminal charges, 11 are from the Congress, 13 from the AAP and 14 from the Janta Congress Chhattisgarh (J).
Congress’ Jaisingh Agrawal, vying for Korba seat, is among the candidates with the most number of criminal charges that include forgery, criminal conspiracy and obscene act. Another Congress nominee, Ashish Kumar Chhabra for the Bemetara seat is among those facing charges of attempt to murder.
Among the multimillionaires, 53 are from the Congress, 61 from the BJP and 35 from Janta Congress Chhattisgarh (J).
Congress veteran T.S. Singh Deo, contesting from Ambikapur, is the richest nominee with assets in excess of Rs 500 crore. While 19 candidates have declared nil assets, independent nominee Rubeena Anjum from the Raipur City South possesses “assets” of just Rs 104.
599 candidates are school dropouts while 9 are illiterate. Only 111 female candidates are contesting in the second phase.
The first phase of polling in 18 constituencies spread across eight Maoist-affected district was held on Monday.
The results of the election to the 90-member Chhattisgarh assembly will be declared on December 11.
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