Criminal:
· Candidates with Criminal Cases: Out of the 143 candidates contesting in the first phase of 2013 Chhattisgarh Assembly Elections, 15 candidates (or 10 %) have declared criminal cases against them.
· Candidates with Serious Criminal Cases: Out of the 15 candidates who have declared criminal cases, 6 have declared serious criminal cases. These include murder, kidnapping, criminal intimidation and crime against women.
· Party wise Candidates with Criminal Cases: 2 out of 18 (11%) candidates fielded by INC have declared criminal cases against them while 3 out of 18 (17%) candidates from BJP, 2 out of 18 (11%) candidates from BSP, 1 out of 5 (20%) candidates from SP and have declared criminal cases in their affidavits.
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Financial:
· Crorepati Candidates: Out of the 143 contesting candidates, 25 (17%) are crorepatis.
· Average Assets: The average asset per candidate contesting in the first phase of 2013 Chhattisgarh Assembly Elections is Rs.57.84 lakhs.
· Party-wise Average Assets: The average asset per candidate for INC (18 candidates) is Rs.1.75 Crores, for 18 BJP candidates the average is Rs.1.34 Crores, for BSP (18 candidates) it is Rs.10.11 Lakhs and the average assets of Samajwadi party (5 candidates) is Rs.9.42 Lakhs.
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· High Income Candidates: Raman Singh of BJP from Rajnandgaon constituency has declared the highest income of Rs.32.26 Lakhs in the last Income Tax Returns (ITR) filed for the year 2012-13 followed by Dinesh Gandhi of BJP from Dongargaon constituency with total income of Rs.13.66 Lakhs and Jhadu Ram Nareti of Chhattisgarh Swabhiman Manch (CSM) from Kanker with an income of Rs.13.14 Lakhs for the financial year 2011-12. (Most of the candidates have claimed to be exempted from paying Income Tax)
Summary of asset comparison of re-contesting candidates (Asset growth between 2008 - 2013)
Following an analysis of self-sworn affidavits of all 143 candidates contesting in 18 constituencies during the first phase of Chhattisgarh State Assembly Elections 2013,
24 re-contesting (candidates who fought elections in 2008 and now in 2013 are again in the fray) candidates have been analyzed for the Chhattisgarh Assembly Elections 2013
The average assets of these 24 candidates fielded by various parties in 2008 was Rs.32,34,142 (32.34 Lakhs)
The average assets of these re-contesting candidates now in 2013 is Rs.1,16,52,537 (1.16 crore)
The average asset growth for these re-contesting candidates is Rs.84,18,394 (84.18 Lakhs)
Average percentage growth in assets for these re-contesting candidates is 260%
Out of the 24 re-contesting candidates, 12 are sitting MLAs in the outgoing assembly and their assets have grown by 330% since 2008. 10 sitting BJP MLAs have shown average asset increase of Rs.1.54 crores and 2 INC MLAs have shown average asset increase of Rs.61.31 Lakhs.
Other Background details (Education, Gender, Age):
· Candidates’ Education: A total of 54 (38%) candidates out of 143 analyzed are graduates or have higher degrees. 88 (62%) candidates have educational qualification of 12th pass and below.
· Candidates’ Age: A total of 104 (73%) candidates out of the 143 analyzed, have declared their age to be between 25 and 50 years. 36(25%) candidates declared their age to be between 51 and 70 years.
· Women Candidates: Out of 143 candidates analyzed, only 11 (8%) women are contesting in the first phase of Chhattisgarh 2013 Assembly Elections. Among the major political parties, INC has fielded 3 women candidates while 2 women are contesting under BJP ticket.
