Fifth phase witnesses candidates with highest criminal records in UP

According to the ADR reports, in the fifth phase of UP elections, the number of candidates with criminal records and millionaire candidates are high.

Lucknow: Political campaigning for the fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections came to a halt at 6 pm on Saturday in Uttar Pradesh.

According to the reports of Association for Democratic Reforms, the number of candidates with criminal records and millionaire candidates are high this time in UP elections.

Big faces standing in the fifth phase of Lok Sabha election in UP include Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Poonam Sinha from Lucknow, Congress President Rahul Gandhi and Smriti Irani from Amethi, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi from Rae Bareli, Jitin Prasada from Dhaurahra and Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh from Kaiserganj constituency.

The ADR list revealed that Saritha Nair who is contesting independently from Amethi not only has 34 serious cases lodged against her but she also has served jail terms for two cases.

In the list of millionaire candidates, Poonam Shatrughan Sinha, the candidate from Lucknow, is on the top with assets worth Rs 193 crore, followed by Sitapur's candidate Vijay Kumar Mishra with over Rs 177 crore assets.

The ADR list also disclosed that out of 182 candidates, affidavits of 178 have been analyzed in the fifth phase. The remaining four candidacies were not clear and were not analysed.

A total of 40 candidates are involved in cases of serious crime.

Anand Sen Yadav contesting from Faizabad is involved in 8 serious cases, BSP Candidate Arshad Siddiqui in 7 serious cases, Congress candidate Bal Kumar Patel in 8 cases and Kamlesh Tiwari contesting independently from Faizabad has 8 cases registered in his name.

On the other hand, SP candidate Ram Sagar Rawat is involved in 5 cases, Vijay Kumar contesting from Sitapur in 3 cases, Congress candidate from Fatehpur Rakesh Sakhan in 8 cases, Savitri Bai Phule from Bahraich seat in 7 cases and Kaushambi's candidate Shailendra Kumar is involved in 3 major cases.

The average assets of the fifth phase candidates are around Rs 4.86 crore. Out of 178 candidates, 64 candidates are millionaires.

All the candidates of BJP, SP and BSP candidates are millionaires, whereas 85% and 60% of Congress and Praspa candidates respectively have assets more than Rs 10 lakh.