Lucknow: As many as 109 candidates contesting
the first phase of Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections have
criminal cases pending against them, according to a monitoring
group.
Of the total 867 candidates in fray for the first phase
of elections slated for February 8, Uttar Pradesh Election
Watch (UPEW), which analysed affidavits of 284 contestants,
found that 109 of them have criminal cases, including that of
murder, abduction, robbery and extortion, pending against
them.
SP tops the chart with 28 candidates having criminal
record, followed by BSP and BJP at 24 each, Congress (15),
Peace Party (12), JD-U (5) and RLD (1).
Of the 284 candidates, 144 are crorepatis, the UPEW said,
adding that the average asset of each SP candidate is Rs 1.74
crore, BSP Rs 3.83 crore, Congress Rs 1.34 crore, Peace Party
Rs 1.01 crore and JD(U) Rs 32.09 lakh.
BSP nominee from Colonelganj Ajay Pratap Singh has the
highest assets worth Rs 12.08 crore, followed by Chaudhary
Ravindra Pratap of Congress from Shohratgarh - Rs 6.56 crore
and BSP candidate from Barabanki, Sangram Singh - Rs 5.5
crore.
The highest percentage increase of assets is 12,074 per
cent of JD(U) candidate Kaushalendra Nath from Tulsipur, whose
gross assets rose from Rs 51,94,000 in 2007 to 68.42 lakh in
2012.
Sher Bahadur of SP from Jalalpur is the only sitting MLA
who has shown a decrease in assets - 35 per cent, from Rs
31.87 lakh in 2007 to Rs 20.73 lakh in 2012.
Of the 284 candidates, 96 have declared that they have
never filed IT returns.
Top three candidates with maximum assets, who have never
filed IT returns were SP's Farid Mahfuz Kidwai with total
assets of Rs 3.52 crore, followed by Gauri Shanker of Congress
with assets of Rs 2.88 crore and Ram Sajivan of BJP with
assets of RS 2.57 crore.
Of the total 867 candidates in fray for the first phase,
only 65 are women, the report said.
PTI
First Published: Saturday, January 28, 2012, 17:43