Photo Source: Babushahi Bureau
Read account of candidates contesting Punjab Assembly elections
- Criminal cases on 25% candidates, candidates with 3 or more criminal cases in 57 constituencies in the fray - ADR
Babushahi Bureau
Chandigarh, February 11, 2022 - Punjab Election Watch and the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) have analyzed the affidavits of 1276 out of 1304 candidates contesting the Punjab Assembly elections 2022. . Trustee Jaskirat Singh and Parvinder Singh Kitna and Harpreet Singh of Punjab Election Watch released here today.
Out of the 1276 candidates analyzed, 228 are from national parties, 256 from state parties, 345 from registered non-recognized parties and 447 candidates are contesting independently.
Punjab Election Watch and ADR did not analyze the 28 candidates as their affidavits were either badly scanned or the entire affidavit was not uploaded on the Election Commission's website.
Out of 1276 candidates analyzed, 315 (25%) candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves. In the 2017 Punjab Assembly elections, 1145 candidates were analyzed in which 100 (9%) declared criminal cases against themselves. 218 (17%) have declared serious criminal cases against themselves. In the 2017 Punjab Assembly elections, 77 (7%) candidates had declared serious criminal cases against themselves.
Out of the major parties, 65 out of 96 candidates of Akali Dal (68%), 58 out of 117 candidates of AAP (50%), 27 out of 71 candidates of BJP (38%) and 14 out of 14 candidates of Shiromani Akali Dal (United). 4 (29%), 3 out of 20 BSP candidates (15%), 16 out of 117 (14%) from Congress and 3 out of 27 (11%) candidates from Punjab Lok Sabha declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.
In serious criminal cases, out of the major parties, 60 out of 96 candidates of Akali Dal (63%), 27 out of 117 candidates of AAP (23%), 15 out of 71 candidates of BJP (21%), Shiromani Akali Dal ( United (3) out of 14 (21%), BSP 3 out of 20 candidates (15%), Congress out of 117 candidates 9 (8%) and Punjab Lok Congress Party out of 27 candidates 2 (7%) in their affidavits. Has declared serious criminal cases against him.
Fifteen candidates have declared criminal cases against women. Out of 15 candidates, 2 candidates have declared rape (IPC Section-376) related cases. Four candidates have filed murder cases against them (Section 302 of IPC). 33 candidates have filed cases against them for attempted murder (Section 307 of IPC).
Out of 117 constituencies, 57 (49%) are Red Alert constituencies. Red Alert constituencies are those where 3 or more contesting candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves.
Out of 1276 candidates, 521 (41%) are crorepatis. In the 2017 Punjab Assembly elections, out of 1145 candidates, 428 (37%) were crorepatis.
The role of money power in our elections is evident from the fact that all the major political parties give tickets to rich candidates. 89 (93%) out of 96 candidates of Akali Dal, 107 (92%) out of 117 candidates of Congress, 60 (85%) out of 71 candidates of BJP, 16 (80%) out of 20 candidates of BSP, Shiromani Akali Dal (United) 11 (79%) out of 14 candidates of BJP, 81 (69%) out of 117 candidates of AAP and 16 (59%) out of 27 candidates of Punjab Lok Congress Party have declared assets of over Rs. 1 crore.
Candidates contesting in Punjab Assembly Election 2022 have average assets of Rs. 4.31 crore per candidate. In the 2017 Punjab Assembly elections, the average assets of 1145 candidates per candidate was Rs 3.49 crore.
Among the major parties, 117 Congress candidates have average assets of Rs 13.27 crore per candidate, 96 Akali Dal candidates have average assets of Rs 12.69 crore, 71 BJP candidates have average assets of Rs 7.69 crore and 117 AAP candidates have average assets of Rs 7.03 crore. The average assets of 14 candidates of Shiromani Akali Dal (United) are Rs 5.36 crore, 27 candidates of Punjab Lok Congress Party have average assets of Rs 5.27 crore and average assets of 20 candidates of BSP is Rs 4.27 crore.
The highest net worth candidates are Kulwant Singh of AAP from SAS Nagar with Rs 238 crore, Sukhbir Singh Badal of Akali Dal from Jalalabad with Rs 202 crore and Karan Kaur of Congress from Muktsar with Rs 155 crore. Five candidates have declared zero assets. 653 (51%) candidates have declared liabilities in their affidavits.
Among the candidates who declared the highest liabilities were Rana Gurjit Singh of Congress 71.75 crore, Sukhbir Singh Badal of Akali Dal 66.95 crore and Aman Arora of AAP 22.88 crore. Among the candidates who have declared the highest annual income are Kulwant Singh of AAP from SAS Nagar with Rs 16.33 crore, Aman Arora of AAP at Rs 5.66 crore and Manpreet Singh Badal of Congress at Rs 3.15 crore.
695 (54%) candidates have declared their educational qualification between 5th and 12th class while 483 (38%) candidates have declared graduate or above. 24 candidates are diploma holders. 21 candidates have declared themselves literate and 49 candidates are illiterate. 4 candidates have not given their educational qualification.
349 (27%) candidates have stated their age between 25 to 40 years while 671 (53%) candidates have stated their age between 41 to 60 years. There are 254 (20%) candidates who have stated their age between 61 and 80 years and 2 candidates have declared that they are over 80 years.
90 (7%) women candidates are contesting in Punjab Assembly elections 2022. In the 2017 Punjab Assembly elections, 81 (7%) of the 1145 candidates analyzed were women.