128 nominees in UP poll’s sixth phase face criminal cases
February 18th, 2012 - 11:12 pm ICT by IANS
New Delhi, Feb 18 (IANS) At least 128 of the 360 candidates for the sixth round of Uttar Pradesh assembly polls Feb 28 have criminal background, a report from a think tank said Saturday. A total of 210 candidates are billionaires.
This is 36 percent of the total and is much higher than 27 percent of candidates having criminal background in the last assembly polls, said an analysis by think tank Association for Democratic Research (ADR) and its wing National Election Watch (NEW).
About 46 percent of the candidates of the Samajwadi Party (SP) have pending criminal cases, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) 45 percent, the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) 29 percent and the Congress 47 percent.
Out of the 128 candidates with declared criminal cases, 52 are facing trials in cases like murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, rape, robbery and extortion. The SP has 15, the BJP has eight, the BSP has seven and the Congress has five such candidates.
Man Veer Singh of the Janata Dal-United, contesting from Jewar constituency, has declared the maximum number of 31 criminal cases. Of these, 14 are related to murder.
The number of billionaires in the fray has also grown this time over the 2007 election. A total of 210 candidates, about 58 percent of the total, are billionaires. Just 22 percent candidates were billionaires in 2007.
Najir Ahmed of the Congress from Agra South constituency is the richest with assets worth Rs.141.39 crore, followed by Vinod Kumar of the BSP from Debai constituency with Rs.45.19 crore and Mahesh Kumar Sharma of the BJP from Noida constituency with assets worth Rs.37.45 crore.
- 35pc candidates with criminal cases in UP fourth phase - Feb 11, 2012
- Tainted, billionaire candidates on rise in seventh phase - Feb 24, 2012
- Crime, money power shadow Uttar Pradesh polls - Feb 03, 2012
- 31 percent of UP third-phase candidates have criminal cases - Feb 14, 2012
- 'Criminal charges against 9 percent MCD poll nominees' - Apr 10, 2012
- 87 'criminal' candidates in Bengal polls' fourth, fifth phases - Apr 28, 2011
- Many UP poll candidates face criminal charges: Study - Feb 04, 2012
- Brisk polling on in Uttar Pradesh (Lead) - Feb 15, 2012
- 48 candidates in Bengal second-phase face criminal charges - Apr 16, 2011
- UP polls: Round 3 ends peacefully, 57-58 percent turnout (Fourth Lead) - Feb 15, 2012
- 22 'criminal' candidates in Bengal final phase poll - May 06, 2011
- 49 newly-elected MCD councillors face criminal charges - Apr 19, 2012
- Polling steady, peaceful in round three of UP polls (Third Lead) - Feb 15, 2012
- UP polls: 20 percent turnout in four hours (Second Lead) - Feb 15, 2012
- New Punjab assembly a 'crorepati' club - Mar 11, 2012
Tags: adr, agra, ahmed, assembly polls, bharatiya janata party, constituency, criminal background, crore, extortion, last assembly, mahesh, maximum number, murder attempt, national election, New Delhi, robbery, Samajwadi Party, sixth phase, think tank, vinod kumar