More than one-fourth candidates fighting Jharkhand phase 2 Assembly polls have criminal cases- The Week

Of the 522 candidates who are in the fray for the second phase of Jharkhand Assembly elections, 28 per cent have criminal cases registered against them.

Analysis of candidates’ affidavits by the Association for Democratic Reforms has revealed that of the major national parties, the BJP leads with the list of candidates with criminal cases, followed by the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM). These parties also lead in the list of candidates with serious criminal cases (where the minimum punishment is five years or those related to assault, murder and rape) against them.

Both candidates fielded by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) have criminal history while four of the six fielded by the All Jharkhand Students Union also have cases filed against them.

There are 12 candidates with cases of crimes against women registered against them and of these, one is accused of rape.

Almost three-fourths of the constituencies fall in the red alert category as there are three or more candidates with criminal cases against them are in the fray.

Almost one-fourth of the candidates fighting the elections are crorepatis with the INC and the AJSU leading in terms of percentages. From the BJP candidate list, 72 percent are crorepatis while both candidates of the RJD have also listed assets worth crores.

Most candidates belong to the 41-60 years age bracket while the second most common group is between the ages of 25 and 40.