New Delhi: As many as 87% of candidates of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) contesting in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections are 'crorepatis' while 53% of the candidates of the Indian National Congress (INC) have criminal cases against them and only 10% candidates are women out of a total of 2,534, according to a report by Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR).
Out of the 2,534 candidates analysed in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections 2023, 472 (19%) candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves. In the 2018 Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections, out of 2,716 candidates analysed, 464 (17%) had declared criminal cases against them. According to the report, 65 out of 230 (28%) of BJP, 121 of Congress out of 230 (53%), 22 out of 181 (12%) of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), 26 out of 66 of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have criminal cases against them. While, out of a total of 1,167 independent candidates, only 134 have criminal cases against them accounting for 11%.
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Similarly, in terms of 'crorepati' candidates, out of 230 BJP, 200 are 'crorepatis' (87%), 196 out of 230 Congress are 'crorepatis' (85%), 54 out of 181 of BSP are 'crorepatis' (30%), 39 of AAP are out of 66 are 'crorepatis' (59%) while out of 1,167 independent only 149 are 'crorepatis' (13%). The top three candidates, who topped the list with the highest number of assets, are Chetanya Kasyap from BJP, who has a total assets of more than Rs 296 crore, and Sanjay Satyendra Pathak of BJP with more than Rs 242 crore and Sanjay Shukla from Congress with a total assets of more than Rs 217 crore.
" In all, 1,233 (49%) candidates declared their educational qualifications to be between V and XII standard while 1,105 (44%) candidates declared having an educational qualification of graduate or above. Twenty-eight candidates are diploma holders; 134 candidates have declared themselves to be just literate; 28 candidates are illiterates and six candidates have not provided their educational qualification," the report said.
"Over 952 (38%) candidates declared their age to be between 25 and 40 years while 1,252 (49%) candidates have declared their age to be between 41 and 60 years. There are 328 (13%) candidates, who declared their age to be between 61 to 80 years and two candidates declared they are more than 80 years old," it said. In terms of gender ratio, out of a total of 2,534 candidates only 253 (10%) candidates are women with only 30 (13%) women candidates from Congress, 27 (12%) women candidates from BJP, 87 (7%) independents and others.
