UP fourth phase poll candidates a mix of millionaires, 'criminals', and illiterates

A total of 31 out of 58 candidates of the Congress have cases registered against them while 30 of 57 candidates of Samajwadi Party are tainted. According to the report, 26 out of 59 candidates of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), 23 out of 57 of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and 11 out of 45 candidates of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have criminal cases.

Lucknow: The Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) has released an analytic report on the 621 candidates contesting the fourth phase of Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections 2022. The analysis states that out of 621, 167 candidates have criminal cases registered against them. The candidates have admitted to the cases against them in their nomination affidavits.

A total of 31 out of 58 candidates of the Congress have cases registered against them while 30 of 57 candidates of Samajwadi Party are tainted. According to the report, 26 out of 59 candidates of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), 23 out of 57 of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and 11 out of 45 candidates of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have criminal cases.

Similarly, 22 out of 58 candidates of Congress, 22 out of 57 SP, 22 out of 59 of BSP, 17 out of 57 of BJP and 9 out of 45 candidates of AAP have declared serious criminal cases against themselves. According to Santosh Srivastava, state convener of ADR Uttar Pradesh Election Watch, 91 women candidates are in the fray in the fourth phase of Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections.

Among the candidates in the fourth phase, SP candidate Ravidas Mehrotra from Lucknow has the maximum 22 cases against him followed by Surendra Kumar of Congress Party from Balamau Assembly of Hardoi who has nine cases and BSP's Jaleesh Khan from Sarojini Nagar Assembly Constituency of Lucknow has five cases registered against him.

Srivastava said that out of 621, there are 231 millionaire candidates including 50 out of 57 BJP candidates, 48 out of 57 candidates of SP, 44 out of 59 candidates of BSP, 28 out of 58 of Congress, and 16 out of 45 candidates of AAP.

Rajiv Bakshi of AAP from Lucknow West Vidhan Sabha has declared maximum assets of Rs 56 crores. In second place is Anoop Kumar Gupta of SP from Maholi assembly seat of Sitapur, who has Rs 52 crores assets followed by Shobhit Pathak of BSP from Hardoi assembly seat, who has declared Rs 34 crores assets.

Meanwhile, 201 candidates have declared their educational qualification between 5th and 12th standard in the fourth phase of Uttar Pradesh assembly elections whereas, 375 candidates have declared their educational qualification as Graduation and above while 4 candidates have declared their highest educational qualification as Diploma. Thirty candidates have declared their educational qualification as literate and nine candidates have declared their educational qualification as illiterate. Two candidates have not declared their educational qualifications.