At least 17% of the total candidates in the upcoming Uttarakhand Assembly elections are facing criminal charges, while 10% have declared serious criminal cases against themselves, according to a new report.
The Uttarakhand Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) analysed the self-sworn affidavits of 626 of the 632 candidates, who are contesting the Uttarakhand Assembly Elections 2022. A total of 62 women candidates are contesting. In the 2017 Uttarakhand assembly elections, 56 of the 637 candidates analysed were women.
“Of the 626 candidates analysed, 107 (17%) candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves. In the 2017 Uttarakhand Assembly Elections, of the 637 candidates analysed, 91 (14%) had declared criminal cases against themselves,” the report released on Monday said.
It further added that 61 (10%) have declared serious criminal cases against themselves. In the 2017 polls, 54 (8%) candidates had declared serious criminal cases against themselves.
Among the major parties, 23 of the 70 analysed Congress candidates, 13 of the 70 BJP candidates and 15 of the AAP 69 candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavit. At least 10 of the 54 analysed BSP candidates and seven of the 42 candidates analysed from UKD also face criminal charges. In addition, 11 from Congress, eight from BJP and nine from AAP have declared serious criminal cases against themselves. Also, six from BSP and four candidates analysed from UKD have declared serious charges against themselves.
The Uttarakhand Assembly elections 2022 will be held in a single phase on February 14. The counting of votes will take place on March 10. A total of 13 of the 70 constituencies are red alert constituencies, where three or more contesting candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves.
Of the total candidates analysed, 202 are from national parties, 134 are from state parties, 137 from registered unrecognised parties and 153 are independents. The report does not include details of six candidates as their affidavits were either badly scanned or complete affidavits were not uploaded on the ECI website.
At least six candidates have declared cases related to crime against women, including BJP’s Suresh Rathore, contesting from Jwalapur in Haridwar, who has declared case related to IPC section- 376(2)(n) – person committing rape repeatedly on the same woman.
Further, one independent candidate has declared cases related to murder (IPC section 302), while three candidates have declared cases related to attempt to murder (IPC section 307).
“A total of 244 candidates have declared their educational qualifications to be between Class 5 and 12, while 344 candidates have declared an educational qualification of graduate or above. Seven candidates are diploma holders. 26 candidates are literate and three are illiterate. Two candidates have not given their educational qualification,” it added.
The report stated that the average assets per candidate are worth Rs 2.74 crore. In 2017 polls, the average assets per candidate for 637 candidates were worth Rs 1.57 crore.
Among major parties, the average assets per candidate for Congress are worth Rs 6.93 crore, while for the BJP it is Rs 6.56 crore. For 69 AAP candidates, the average worth of assets is Rs 2.95 crore and for the 42 UKD candidates, it is Rs 2.79 crore. BSP candidates have average assets worth Rs 2.23 crore.
In terms of age, 167 candidates are aged between 25 and 40 years, while 356 are aged 41 to 60. “A total of 101 candidates are aged between 61 and 80 years. Two candidates are aged more than 80,” the report said.
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