Around 25% of candidates in the fray for the seventh phase of Lok Sabha polls in 13 constituencies of Uttar Pradesh have criminal cases against them while 38% of the candidates are crorepatis.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is contesting from Varanasi seat for the third time in this seventh and last phase.

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The Uttar Pradesh Election Watch (UPEW) and the Association for Democratic Reforms( ADR) came up with a detailed report on the candidates for the Lok Sabha elections after analysing the affidavits of all 144 candidates contesting from 13 constituencies in UP, Maharajganj, Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Deoria, Bansgaon, Ghosi, Salempur, Ballia, Ghazipur, Chandonli, Contesting elections from Varanasi, Mirzapur, and Robertsganj.

According to the report released to media here on Wednesday, 36 of the 144 (25%) candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves while 21% have declared serious criminal cases against themselves.

As per the party-wise details of the candidates who have declared criminal cases in the elections, 5 out of 13 (39%) of Bahujan Samaj Party, 3 out of 10 (30%) of Bharatiya Janata Party, 3 out of 10 (30%) of Samajwadi Party, 7 out of 9 (78%), Sardar Patel Siddhant Party 2 out of 6 (33%), and Congress 2 out of 4 (50%) candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves.

Among the serious criminal cases declared by the candidates, 39% of Bahujan Samaj Party, 10% of Bharatiya Janata Party, 67% of Samajwadi Party, 33% of Sardar Patel Siddhant Party, 50% of Congress candidates have declared serious criminal cases against themselves.

In criminal cases, Lallan Singh Yadav, who is contesting from Ballia on the Bahujan Samaj Party symbol, has a maximum number of 22 criminal cases registered against him, the second candidate with criminal cases is UP Congress president Ajay Rai, who is the Congress Party candidate from Varanasi and he has 18 criminal cases against him. On number three is Swami Prasad Maurya who is the candidate from Kushi Nagar on Rashtriya Shoshit Samaj Party and has 9 criminal cases registered against him.

Meanwhile, 55 or 38% candidates are crorepati with 10 out of 10 (100%) of Bharatiya Janata Party, 9 out of 9 of Samajwadi Party (100%), 4 out of 4 of Congress (100%), 7 out of 13 of Bahujan Samaj Party (54%), 2 out of 2 (100%) candidates of Apna Dal (Sonelal), 2 out of 2 (100%) candidates of Apna Dal (Kamerawadi) are crorepatis.

The report claims that the average assets of the candidates of the seventh phase in UP is Rs 3.35 crore. Among the main parties, the average asset of 13 candidates of Bahujan Samaj Party is around Rs. 3 crore. The average asset of the 10 candidates of the Bharatiya Janata Party is around Rs. 18 crore. Samajwadi Party’s average wealth of 9 candidates is aroubd Rs18 crore, and the average wealth of the 4 Congress candidates is around Rs 14 crore.

UP Election Watch ADR State Convener Santosh Srivastava said that among the candidates of the seventh phase of Lok Sabha elections are Rajiv Rai contesting on a Samajwadi Party ticket from Ghosi, whose assets are around Rs 49 crores, Ravi Kishan (Ravindra Shukla) of Bharatiya Janata from Gorakhpur has assets worth Rs 43 crore. Pankaj Choudhary, contesting from Bharatiya Janata Party in Maharajganj Lok Sabha seat, whose assets are around Rs 41 crores.

The top three candidates, who have declared the least assets, Shriram Prasad, contesting from Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat from Al Hind Party, has a total asset of Rs 25,000. In second place is Santosh Kumar, who is contesting as an independent from Chandauli. His assets have been declared as Rs 38,000. In third position is Rampreet, an Independent candidate from Maharajganj seat, who has declared his total assets as Rs 50,000.

A total of 54 out of 144 (38%) candidates have declared their educational qualification between 5th standard and 12th pass. While 82 (57%) have declared their educational qualification as graduation and above, three candidates have declared their qualification as diploma holders, four have declared literate and one has not declared any educational qualification.

Talking about the age of the candidates, 47 out of 144 (33%) have declared their age between 25 to 40 years, and 69 (48%) between 41 to 60 years. Besides 28 (19%) candidates have declared their age between 61 to 80 years.

In this phase, just 10 or 7% of women candidates are contesting.

Chief Convenor UP Election Watch ADR Sanjay Singh said in the seventh phase of the Lok Sabha elections being held in UP, there are the least number of women candidates so far. When the seventh phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections is concluding, in such a situation, by giving 7% tickets to women, all political parties have reduced their representation whereas in India, a law has been passed for the participation of women in 33 percent Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. In such a situation, such a small number of women were allowed to contest elections.