As many as 392 (25%) of 1,594 candidates whose affidavits were studied have declared assets worth Rs 1 crore or more. Among the major parties, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress and Samajwadi Party have the highest proportion (90% from SP, 84% from BJP and 82% from Congress) of ‘crorepati’ candidates.

Nearly 43% of all candidates have declared they have a graduate degree or above, while 3.6% have declared they are just literate and 1.4% are illiterate.

More than a third of candidates are aged between 25 and 40 years, while nearly half are between 41 and 60 years.

The third phase of polling began on April 23, 2019. Affidavits of 18 candidates were not analysed as they were not properly scanned or were incomplete.

Criminal charges

Of the 230 candidates facing serious criminal charges, 14 have declared they have been convicted in the past. Persons convicted are debarred from contesting elections for six years from the date of conviction, but only if they have been sentenced to imprisonment of two years or more.

Among Congress’s candidates, 27% (24 of 90) face serious criminal charges. As many as 27% (26 of 97) of BJP candidates face serious criminal charges, 10% (9 of 92) of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), 27% (6 of 22) of the Shiv Sena, 32% (6 of 19) of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), 50% (5 of 10) of Nationalist Congress Party, 40% (4 of 10) of Samajwadi Party and 44% (4 of 9) candidates from All India Trinamool Congress face serious criminal charges.

13 candidates have declared they are facing cases related to murder, 30 have declared cases related to attempt to murder, 14 related to kidnapping, 29 related to crime against women and 26 related to hate speech, the ADR analysis shows.

Among the major parties, 44% (40 of 90) Congress candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves. As many as 39% (38 of 97) candidates from BJP and 17% (16 of 92) candidates from BSP have declared criminal cases against themselves.

In the second phase, 16% were facing criminal charges, and in the first phase candidates, 17% candidates were facing criminal charges, IndiaSpend reported on April 17, 2019 and on April 11, 2019.

The highest proportion of candidates facing criminal charges are from Nationalist Congress Party (NCP): 60% (6 of 10) face criminal charges.

Assets of Rs 1 crore or above

25% candidates have declared assets worth Rs 1 crore or more. Among the major parties, 74 (82%) out of 90 candidates from the Congress, 81 (84%) out of 97 candidates from BJP, 12 (13%) candidates from BSP, 9 (90%) out of 10 candidates from SP, 10 (53%) out of 19 candidates from CPI(M), 9 (41%) out of 22 candidates from Shiv Sena and 7 (70%) out of 10 candidates from NCP have declared assets worth more than Rs 1 crore.

The top three states with the highest number of crorepati candidates are Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka: 75 candidates from Gujarat, 71 from Maharashtra and 46 from Karnataka have assets worth more than Rs 1 crore.

Candidates who are crorepatis

The three richest candidates in terms of assets are Devendra Singh Yadav of Samajwadi Party from Etah constituency of Uttar Pradesh with total assets worth more than Rs 204 crore, Udayanraje Bhosale of Nationalist Congress Party from the Satara constituency of Maharashtra whose total assets are worth more than Rs 199 crore, and Praveen Singh Aron from the Bareilly constituency of Uttar Pradesh who has total assets worth more than Rs 147 crore.

The top three candidates with the highest declared income during the past financial year are from Odisha and Maharashtra. Pinaki Misra from Biju Janata Dal, contesting from Puri in Odisha declared an income of more than Rs 24 crore. Misra has mentioned advocate as profession and source of income.

Supriya Sadanand Sule of Nationalist Congress Party from Baramati in Maharashtra has declared income of more than Rs 1 crore. She has declared business as her source of income. Hindurao Naik Nimbalkar of BJP from Madha, Maharashtra has income of more than Rs 3 crore and business and agriculture as its source.

There are 11 candidates who have declared no assets. The candidate who has declared the least assets (excluding the zero assets candidates) is Sreejith PR, an independent candidate from the Wayanad constituency of Kerala, who has declared a bank balance of Rs 120.
Johnson Vasant Kolhapure, an independent candidate from the Pune constituency of Maharashtra, has declared Rs 207.

Educational qualifications

Of 1,594 candidates, 788 (49%) have declared their educational qualification to be between 5th and 12th standard while 681 (43%) candidates have a graduate degree or above. As many as 57 (3.6%) candidates have declared they are just literate and 23 (1.4%) are illiterate.

Age profile

More than a third (35%), or 562 of 1,594 candidates, are in the 25-40 years age group while nearly half (48%), or 760 candidates, are in the 41-60 years age group as per the affidavits analysed by ADR.

As many as 265 (17%) candidates have declared their age in the group 61-80 years while three candidates are aged above 80 years. Four candidates have not given their age.

Gender profile

Of the 1,594 candidates, 143 (9%) female candidates, one candidate from the third gender and 1,450 (91%) male candidates are contesting the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections.

(Ahmad is an intern at IndiaSpend.)

We welcome feedback. Please write to respond@indiaspend.org. We reserve the right to edit responses for language and grammar.

Courtesy: India Spend

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About 27% or 423 of 1,590 candidates have declared assets worth Rs 1 crore or more. Among the major parties, all candidates of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) are crorepatis, as are 96% (23 of 24) of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) candidates. Assets include total movable and immovable assets of the candidate, his or her spouse and dependents.

Candidates filing nomination papers for contesting an election have to submit an affidavit (Form 26) furnishing personal details that include details of income and assets, with PAN and income tax return as proof. A candidate also has to list the details of any criminal cases he or she has been charged with. If a candidate is found to have filed a false affidavit, he or she can be imprisoned for up to six months and/or made to pay a fine.

The affidavits filed by the candidates contesting the 17th Lok Sabha elections are publicly available at the Election Commission’s website.

IndiaSpend analysed and compared the self-sworn affidavits of 44 candidates who are sitting members of the 16th Lok Sabha and are recontesting in phase two, with their 2014 Lok Sabha election affidavits available at the Election Commission of India’s affidavit website and affidavit archive, to calculate the percent change in their declared assets. Our analysis shows that the 39 candidates whose assets increased saw a 67% increase on average, whereas the five candidates whose assets shrank saw an average decrease of 19% since 2014.

The total wealth of the 44 sitting MPs as declared in 2019 amounts to more than Rs 1,262 crore ($182 million), equivalent to the total cost of constructing 6,000 km of flexible rural roads under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana.

Top three MPs with highest increase in assets

Of 39 members of parliament (MPs) whose assets increased between 2014-2019, 15 are from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), six are from the Indian National Congress (Congress), four are from the AIADMK, three from the Shiv Sena, two each from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Rashtriya Janata Dal, one each from All India Trinamool Congress, All India United Democratic Front, Biju Janata Dal, Janata Dal (Secular), Janata Dal (United), Nationalist Congress Party and Pattali Makkal Katchi.

The MP who saw the highest percentage of increase in their assets is DK Suresh of the Congress, the MP for the Bangalore Rural constituency of Karnataka. In 2014, his assets were worth Rs 85 crore which increased to Rs 338 crore in 2019–an increase of 295%. Suresh’s attendance in the Lok Sabha is 85%, he has participated in 91 debates against the national average of 67.1, and has asked 648 questions against the national average of 293, according to PRS Legislative Research data. He has five criminal cases pending against him, all of which are under sections of Karnataka Forest Rules 1969 and Karnataka Forest Act 1963. He is accused of quarrying and erecting electrical lines in a reserved forest area.

Prataprao Ganpatrao Jadhav of the Shiv Sena from the Buldhana constituency of Maharashtra saw a 223% growth in his assets. His assets in 2014 were Rs 3.6 crore, which increased to Rs 11.6 crore in 2019. He has had 70% attendance, participated in 51 debates and asked 492 questions. Jadhav has three pending criminal cases with seven serious charges under the Indian Penal Code, relating to false evidence, criminal breach of trust, and cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property.

Jual Oram of the BJP, the outgoing Union Minister for Tribal Affairs and MP for Sundargarh constituency in Odisha, had declared assets worth Rs 2.4 crore in 2014, which have undergone a 206% increase in 2019 to Rs 7.4 crore. Oram has two pending cases with charges related to unlawful assembly, wrongful restraint, and danger or obstruction in public way or line of navigation.

Hema Malini, a star campaigner of the BJP and the MP for the Mathura constituency in Uttar Pradesh, has seen a 45.6% increase in her assets since 2014, from Rs 178 crore then to Rs 259 crore in 2019.

MPs with biggest decrease in assets

Our analysis shows that the assets of five sitting MPs contesting in phase 2 have decreased over their 16th Lok Sabha term. The assets of Biren Singh Engti of the Congress, representing the Autonomous District constituency in Assam, decreased by 78%, from Rs 3 crore in 2014 to Rs 78 lakh in 2019.

P Venugopal of the AIADMK representing Tiruvallur in Tamil Nadu, saw a 20% decrease; Farooq Abdullah, J&K National Conference MP for Srinagar, J&K, had a 14% decrease; J Jayavardhan of the AIADMK from Chennai South, Tamil Nadu, had a 3% decrease; and BN Chandrappa of the Congress from Chitradurga, Karnataka, had a 0.8% decrease in assets between 2014 and 2019.

Source: Election Commission of India

Candidates who are Crorepatis

Among the major parties, all candidates of the AIADMK, 96% (23 of 24) of the DMK, 88% (45 of 51) of the BJP, 87% (46 of 53) of the Congress and 26% (21 of 80) of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have declared assets worth more than Rs 1 crore.

The three richest candidates in the second phase are all from the Congress. Vasanthakumar H from the Kanyakumari constituency of Tamil Nadu has total assets worth more than Rs 417 crore; Uday Singh from the Purnia constituency of Bihar has total assets worth more than Rs 341 crore; and DK Suresh, who is contesting again from the Bangalore Rural constituency of Karnataka, has total assets worth more than Rs 338 crore.

The three richest candidates also have the highest liabilities. Vasanthakumar has liabilities of more than Rs 154 crore, Singh’s liabilities are more than Rs 71 crore and Suresh has liabilities of more than Rs 51 crore.

The top three candidates with the highest declared income during the past financial year are Vasanthakumar H of the Congress from the Kanyakumari constituency of Tamil Nadu, who is also the richest candidate; Manju A of the BJP from the Hassan constituency of Karnataka, and Arun Wankhade of the BSP from the Amravati constituency of Maharashtra.

Vasanthakumar has income of more than Rs 28 crore and has mentioned business as his source of income. Manju has income of more than Rs 12 crore and has mentioned self-employment as his source of income, while Wankhade whose income is more than Rs 4 crore has stated that his income is sourced from property business, consultancy and contractorship.

Sixteen candidates have declared no assets. After these, Shri Venkateshwara Maha Swamiji of Hindustan Janata Party from the Solapur constituency of Maharashtra has declared the least assets–worth Rs 9.

Rajesh P and Raja N, independent candidates from the Mayiladuthurai constituency of Tamil Nadu, have declared assets worth Rs 100 each.

Criminal charges

Among the major parties, the highest proportion of candidates facing criminal charges are from DMK, 46% (11 of 24) of whose candidates face criminal charges. Of 53 Congress candidates, 43% (23) have declared criminal cases pending against them, compared with 31% (16 of 51) from the BJP and 20% (16 of 80) from the BSP. Among other parties, 36% (4 of 11) of the Shiv Sena’s candidates and 14% (3 of 22) of AIADMK candidates have declared criminal charges.

Of the 167 candidates facing serious criminal charges are 17 of the Congress’s 53 (32%), 10 of the BJP’s 51 (20%), 10 of the BSP’s 80 (13%), 7 of the DMK’s 24 (29%), 3 of the AIADMK’s 22 (14%) and 1 of the Shiv Sena’s 11 (9%).

Three candidates facing serious criminal charges have declared that they have been convicted in the past. Six have declared they are facing cases related to murder, 25 have declared cases related to attempt to murder, eight related to kidnapping, 10 related to crime against women and 15 related to hate speech, the ADR analysis shows.

Among the candidates who contested the first phase of the 17th Lok Sabha elections, 17% faced criminal charges, of which 12% faced serious criminal charges, IndiaSpend had reported on April 11, 2019.

Educational qualifications

Of 1,590 candidates, 697 (44%) have declared their educational qualification to be between 5th and 12th standard, while 756 (47%) candidates have a graduate degree or above, of which 29 candidates have a doctorate degree.

On the other hand, 35 (2.2%) candidates have declared they are just literate and 26 (1.6%) that they are illiterate.

Age profile

A third (33%) or 525 of 1,590 candidates are in the 25-40 years age group, while more than half (51%) or 805 candidates are aged between 41 and 60 years, as per the affidavits analysed by ADR. Another 246 (15%) candidates are aged between 61-80 years, while seven candidates are aged above 80 years. Six candidates have not given their age and one said they were 24 years old, younger than the qualifying age to contest Lok Sabha elections.

Gender profile

Of the 1,590 candidates, 1,470 (92.45%) are males and 120 (8%) are females, compared with 1,177 (92.9%) males and 89 (7%) females among 1,266 candidates in the first phase. As in phase 1, candidates have professed to no other gender.

(Ahmad is an intern at IndiaSpend.)

Courtesy: India Spend

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Uttar Pradesh Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) have analysed the self-sworn affidavits of 719 of 721 candidates from 92 political parties, including 6 national parties, 6 state parties, 80 unrecognised parties and 206 independent candidates who are contesting in the second phase of polls.

"Out of 719 candidates analysed, 107 (15 per cent) candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves. 84 (12 per cent) candidates have declared serious criminal cases, including cases related to murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, crimes against women etc," ADR said in a report released today.

It further noted that 16 out of 67 candidates from BJP, 25 of 67 from BSP, 6 of 52 from RLD, 21 of 51 from SP, 6 of 18 from Indian National Congress and 13 of 206 independent candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

ADR said that out of 719 candidates, 256 are crorepatis adding that 58 from BSP, 50 from BJP, 45 from SP, 13 from INC, 15 from RLD and 36 independent candidates have declared assets worth more than Rs 1 crore.

The average asset per candidate contesting in the second phase of UP elections is Rs 2.01 crore.

Among major parties, the average assets per candidate for 18 INC candidates is Rs 3.37 crore, 67 BJP candidates (Rs 4.07 crore), 67 BSP candidates (Rs 7.20 crore), 52 RLD candidates (Rs 1.51 crore), 51 SP candidates (Rs 3.43 crore) and 206 independent candidates (Rs 60.63 lakh), it said.

According to the report, a total of 174 candidates have not declared their PAN details.

On the education details of candidates, it said, 277 have declared their qualification to be between 5th and 12th, while 310 have declared having a qualification of graduate or above. 93 candidates have declared themselves to be just literates and 11 illiterate.

The report further said that 475 candidates have declared their age to be between 25 and 50 years, while 233 between 51 and 80 years.

In second phase of UP election this year, 69 female candidates are contesting.
 

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