By IANS,
New Delhi : As many as 33 millionaires and 20 people with criminal records will fight for Delhi’s seven Lok Sabha seats that go to polls May 7.
“A total of 33 ‘crorepatis’ are contesting elections in Delhi. Of 33, seven are from the Congress and five each from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a Delhi Election Watch (DEW) statement Monday said.
Among major parties, the average assets per candidate for BSP is Rs1.13 billion (Rs.113 crores), Congress Rs.70 million (Rs.7 crores) and BJP Rs.20 million (Rs.2 crores), the statement added.
Two candidates have declared their assets as zero, and four have declared assets of less than Rs 20,000, while 42 percent of the total candidates have not furnished their PAN card details as compared to 65 percent in 2004.
The average increase in individual assets has been 755 percent with one candidate showing a jump of over 3000 percent and most of them showing increase in three digits.
Of 160 candidates in the fray, the DEW looked into affidavits of 158 candidates and found that 20 candidates (12.5 percent) have criminal records.
“The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded four candidates with criminal records, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has fielded three and the Congress has given ticket to one candidate with criminal record,” according to the statement.
“There are seven candidates who are charged with heinous crimes which includes murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping and extortion. Amongst major parties, the BSP has fielded maximum (2) number of candidates with serious crimes in Delhi. No other major party has fielded any such candidates,” the statement added.
Delhi Election Watch (DEW) is part of a nationwide National Election Watch (NEW) campaign, comprising more than 1200 NGOs and other citizen organisations working on electoral reforms, improving democracy and governance in India.