Dubious candidates: Several crorepatis and criminals in poll fray

The Municipal Corporation elections, to be held on April 23, will have over 2,300 candidates vying for 272 Municipal wards in the national Capital. A conspicuous number of these candidates will attract more eyeballs than some others for several reasons.

As many as 173 candidates in the April 23 civic elections face criminal cases while another 116 have serious cases of murder, kidnapping and crime against women pending against them, a report said on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, 697 or 30 percent of the 2,315 candidates in the Delhi municipal election are crorepatis and seven percent of them have criminal cases against them, says a report.

Around 22 percent of all analysed candidates hold assets between Rs 1 crore and Rs 5 crore, while five percent own assets worth between Rs 5 crore and Rs 10 crore. Three percent nominees had assets of more than Rs 10 crore each.

The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) said it went through the affidavits filed by 2,315 of the 2,537 candidates from 18 political parties, including six national parties, for the report.

Percentage-wise, candidates with criminal cases pending against them are around seven percent, with those with serious criminal cases nearly five percent of the analysed figure.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has the highest number of candidates with criminal cases – 35 of the 260 candidates, around 14 percent of the total.

Among other parties, the Congress had eight percent candidates with criminal records – 21 of its 250 contestants.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has seven percent candidates with criminal cases against them – 13 out of 191 candidates whose affidavits were analysed.

While 163 or 64 percent of the 256 candidates fielded by the Congress are crorepatis, the BJP has 141 (54 percent) crorepatis of the 260 nominees and the AAP has 104 (42 percent) crorepatis out of 250 candidates.

While 163 or 64 percent of the 256 candidates fielded by the Congress are crorepatis, the BJP has 141 (54 percent) crorepatis of the 260 nominees and the AAP has 104 (42 percent) crorepatis out of 250 candidates.

Besides, nine candidates (24 percent) of the 38 from the NCP are crorepatis, while 41 nominees (22 percent) of the 191 from the BSP and 1 (8 percent) out of 12 candidates of the CPI have declared assets worth more than Rs 1 crore.

Among major parties, the average assets per candidate for the BJP is Rs 2.89 crore, Congress Rs 4.36 crore, AAP Rs 1.65 crore, BSP Rs 89.59 lakh and the NCP Rs 92.38 lakh.

Besides, 16 candidates of the CPI(M) have average assets worth Rs 19.20 lakh while 12 CPI candidates have assets worth Rs 23.04 lakh. Also, 1,051 independent candidates contesting the poll have declared average assets of Rs 97.79 lakh.

The erstwhile unified Municipal Corporation of Delhi was trifurcated into North, South and East Delhi Municipal Corporations in 2012.

Out of the total 272 wards, NDMC and SDMC have 104 seats each while EDMC has 64.

The MCD has been ruled by the BJP for the last 10 years.