TCN News:
The National Parties, BJP and INC announced the list of candidates for Madhya Pradesh Assembly Election, 2018 recently.INC (Indian National Congress) has declared 171 candidates in the two lists on 3rd and 4th November 2018 while BJP (Bhartiya Janta Party) has declared 177 candidates.
Association for Democratic Reforms and Madhya Pradesh Election Watch analyzed the affidavits of these candidates submitted by them during the previous elections and submitted their findings.
Among the 171 candidates of INC 99 are re-contesting candidates. And among the re-contesting candidates 41 have criminal cases against them and 27 have serious criminal cases against them.
And among the 177 candidates of BJP, 125 are re-contesting candidates. And among these 125 are 28 candidates with criminal cases and 18 with serious criminal cases against them.
And the financial details submitted by the candidates show that of the 99 re-contesting candidates of INC, 71 are crorepatis with an average of 5 crore each. Among the 125 re-contesting candidates of BJP, 89 are crorepatis again with an average of 5 crores.
The recommendations made by the Election Watch and ADR (Association for Democratic Reforms) are:
- The current analysis of the candidates fielded by the major party shows that political parties continue to give tickets to candidates with serious criminal cases. The Association for Democratic Reforms recommends that political parties should refrain from giving tickets to candidates with a serious criminal background. The political parties should take a stand against misuse of money power, bribing of voters and distribution of freebies. Further, the political parties should move towards transparency and disclose the criteria for selection of candidates during elections.
- The media & Civil Society should observe whether the political parties are publicizing the criminal cases of the contesting candidates as directed by the Supreme Court and ECI in Sept- Oct 2018
The main intention of this analysis, say the ADR members is to inform the voters the background of the candidates contesting elections. In a detailed report they have declared name wise the assets owned by the crorepatis.