New Delhi: According to a report released on Saturday, 326 candidates—61 of whom are from the BJP—out of the 1,875 nominees for the upcoming Rajasthan Assembly elections have filed criminal charges against themselves.
The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Rajasthan Election Watch have prepared a report on this subject. All 1,875 candidates’ self-sworn affidavits were examined in the report.
According to the report, 688 of the 1,875 candidates examined are affiliated with national parties, 105 with state parties, 348 with registered but unrecognized parties, and 734 running as independents.
“326 (17%) of the 1,875 candidates examined for the Rajasthan Assembly elections of 2023 have filed criminal complaints against themselves. Out of 2,188 candidates examined for the 2018 Rajasthan Assembly Elections, 320 (15%) had filed criminal complaints against themselves, according to the report.
According to the report, 195 candidates (or 9% of the total) in the 2018 polls had declared serious criminal cases against themselves, compared to 236 candidates (or 13%) who had done so.
According to the report, there are serious cases against 42 out of 200 BJP candidates and 34 out of 199 Congress candidates that were analyzed.
Additionally, it stated that in their affidavits, eight out of 185 BSP candidates, 15 out of 86 AAP candidates, 24 out of 78 RLP candidates, 12 out of 18 CPI-M candidates, and one out of 17 BTP candidates had declared serious criminal cases against themselves.
According to the report, 36 candidates have disclosed incidents involving crimes against women.
“Out of 36 candidates one candidate has declared case related to rape. Four candidates have declared cases related to murder against themselves while 34 candidates have declared cases related to attempt to murder against themselves,” the report stated.
The report further said that there are 45 out of 200 constituencies are red alert constituencies.
Red alert constituencies are those where three or more contesting candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves.
It said that 48 constituencies in the Rajasthan assembly elections 2018 had three or more candidates with declared criminal cases.
The report further said that out of the 1,875 candidates analysed, 651 are ‘crorepatis’ while in 2018 Rajasthan Assembly Elections, out of 2,188 candidates, 597 were ‘crorepatis’.
There are 259 candidates with assets exceeding Rs 5 crore, 200 with assets between Rs 2 crore and Rs 5 crore, and 408 with assets between Rs 50 lakh and Rs 2 crore, according to the report.
It further said that there are 501 candidates with assets between Rs 10 lakh to Rs 50 lakh and 507 candidates with assets less than Rs 10 lakh in the 2023 assembly elections. The report also said that among the major parties 176 out of 200 candidates analysed from BJP, 167 out of 199 candidates analysed from Congress have declared assets valued more than Rs 1 crore.
It said that 36 out of 185 candidates analysed from BSP, 29 out of 86 candidates analysed from AAP, 36 out of 78 candidates analysed from RLP, five out of 18 candidates analysed from CPI-M and one out of 17 candidates analysed from BTP have declared assets valued more than Rs one crore. Polling for 200 member Rajasthan assembly is scheduled on November 25 and counting of votes will take place on December 3.
