At least 18% of Aam Aadmi Party candidates contesting the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections, 2022 are facing criminal cases, the highest among major political parties, while the ruling BJP has the most crorepatis, a new report from the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has said.
The ADR and Delhi Election Watch have analysed the self-sworn affidavits of 1,336 candidates out of 1,349 who are contesting the MCD polls to be held on December 4. A total of 13 candidates were not analysed as their affidavits were either badly scanned or were not uploaded on the State Election Commission Delhi website.
“Out of 1,336 candidates analysed, 139 (10%) have declared criminal cases against themselves,” the report said, adding that in the 2017 polls, 173 (7%) out of 2,315 candidates had declared criminal cases against themselves. It also said that 76 (6%) candidates have declared serious criminal cases against themselves. This number was 116 in 2017.
Among the major parties, 45 (18%) out of 248 candidates analysed from AAP, 27 (11%) out of 249 candidates analysed from BJP and 25 (10%) out of 245 Congress candidates are facing criminal cases. At least 19 from AAP, 14 from BJP and 12 from Congress are facing serious criminal charges, it added.
65% BJP Candidates are Crorepatis
This time, 556 (42%) candidates are crorepatis. In 2017 MCD elections, there were 697 (30%) crorepati candidates, the report said.
“The role of money power in our elections is evident from the fact that all major political parties give tickets to wealthy candidates,” the report said, adding that 162 (65%) BJP candidates, 148 (60%) AAP candidates and 107 (44%) Congress candidates have declared assets valued more than Rs 1 crore.
The average of assets per candidate contesting in this election is Rs 2.27 crore, up from Rs 1.61 crore in 2017.
The average assets per candidate for BJP is Rs 4.04 crore. For AAP candidates, it is Rs 3 74 crore and for Congress it is Rs 1.98 crore.
Over Half of the Candidates are Women
There are 693 (52%) female candidates in this MCD election. In 2017, 1,127 (49%) candidates were women, it added.
In all the three main political parties – BJP, AAP, and Congress – over half of the candidates are women. Both AAP and BJP have fielded 136 women each, while Congress has named 132 women candidates, the report said. A total of 104 seats are reserved for women.
The 250 wards of the MCD will go to polls on December 4 while the counting will be done on December 7.
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