By TCN Staff Reporter,
Guwahati: According to a study, 11% candidates in Phase 1 for the Assam Assembly elections have pending criminal charges. The study was conducted by Assam Election Watch (AEW) and Association of Democratic Reforms based on the affidavits submitted by the candidates with the Election Commission.
The study found that:
1. 36 candidates i.e 11% (out of 331 analyzed) with self declared pending criminal charges contesting in the first phase of Assam Assembly Elections.
2. 14 candidates out of these 36 analyzed, i.e. 4% have declared serious IPC charges like murder and attempt to murder charges against them.
3. All major parties have given tickets to candidates with pending criminal cases. AIUDF – 17%, AGP – 14%, BJP – 10% and INC – 5%.
4. A total of 50 candidates, i.e. 15%, (out of 331 analyzed) are crorepatis.
Assam Election Watch (AEW) has analyzed 331 affidavits of candidates contesting first phase in Assam. There are a total of 62 constituencies going for polls in the first phase of Assam 2011 Assembly Elections on 4th April. There are 36 candidates out of 331 analyzed, (i.e. about 11%) in the first phase who have pending criminal cases against them as per their self attested under oath declarations. Out of these 36 candidates, 14 candidates have got serious criminal cases against them, like that of murder, attempt to murder, extortion, causing hurts by dangerous weapons and theft. It is to be mentioned that in the Assam 2006 Assembly Elections, 6% of candidates had pending criminal cases and 3% candidates had serious pending criminal cases against them. Hence there has been an increase in the percentage of criminals from the last Assembly elections in Assam.
The party- wise assessment of candidates with pending criminal cases revealed that AIUDF has fielded highest percentage of candidates with criminal charges in the Phase 1. AIUDF has 5 out of 29 (17%) candidates with pending criminal cases in the Phase 1. Other parties like AGP has 7 out of 51 (14%), BJP has 6 out of 62 (10%), INC has 3 out 62 (5%) candidates with pending criminal cases in this phase.
This statistics also shows increase in candidates with pending criminal charges. In the Assam 2006 Assembly Elections, the percentage of candidates with pending criminal cases were, AIUDF (10%), AGP (5%), and INC (1%). In the case of candidates with serious pending criminal cases, AIUDF had 10% and AGP had 4%.
Phase 1: Party-wise list of candidates with pending criminal cases
|
Party |
Total No. of Candidates analyzed |
Candidates with Pending Criminal Cases |
% of candidates with pending criminal cases |
candidates with serious pending criminal cases |
% of candidates with serious pending criminal cases |
|
INC |
62 |
3 |
5% |
1 |
2% |
|
BJP |
62 |
6 |
10% |
4 |
6% |
|
AGP |
51 |
7 |
14% |
2 |
4% |
|
AIUDF |
29 |
5 |
17% |
2 |
7% |
|
AITC |
27 |
6 |
22% |
0 |
0% |
|
IND |
27 |
4 |
15% |
2 |
7% |
|
NCP |
15 |
2 |
13% |
2 |
13% |
|
JMM |
9 |
1 |
11% |
0 |
0% |
|
SUCI (C) |
3 |
1 |
33% |
0 |
0% |
|
ASDC |
1 |
1 |
100% |
1 |
100% |
|
Total |
36 |
||||
Phase 1: List of 10 candidates with serious pending criminal cases
|
S.No |
Name |
Constituency |
Party |
Serious IPC Counts |
Total No of Cases |
|
1 |
Kushal Dowari |
Thowra |
IND |
7 |
6 |
|
2 |
Amrit Ballav Goswami |
Golaghat |
NCP |
6 |
2
|
|
3 |
Sri Padma Maibangsa |
Diphu |
BJP |
5 |
1 |
|
4 |
Mohet Hoja |
Haflong |
ASDC |
4 |
2 |
|
5 |
Jiten Gogoi |
Bokakhat |
IND |
2 |
6 |
|
6 |
Prafulla Bora |
Bihpuria |
NCP |
1 |
4 |
|
7 |
Md Sahidur Rahman |
Rangapara |
AIUDF |
1 |
2 |
|
8 |
Siddeque Ahmed |
Karimganj South |
INC |
1 |
2 |
|
9 |
Sanjay Kishan |
Tinsukia |
BJP |
1 |
2 |
|
10 |
Bhaben Baruah |
Chabua |
AGP |
1 |
1 |