Rajya Sabha polls: 16 candidates have criminal cases against them, 55 are crorepatis

NEW DELHI: At least 55 candidates contesting the Rajya Sabha elections in 2018 are crorepatis and 16 have criminal cases against them, as per a report by National Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms. The report was made by analysing the self-sworn affidavits of 63 out 64 candidates contesting the Rajya Sabha polls. 

The Rajya Sabha elections will be held on March 23, 2018 for 58 seats in 16 states. 

Sixteen candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves. Among them, eight have serious criminal cases such as kidnapping, attempt to murder, robbery etc against themselves. Those having criminal cases against them include seven from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and two from the Congress.

Out of the 63 candidates analysed, 55 are crorepatis. Among the major parties, 26 crorepatis out of 29 candidates are from the BJP, 10 out of 11 candidates are from Congress, 3 out of 4 candidates are from All India Trinamool Congress (AITC). The average assets of 63 candidates analysed is Rs 122.13 crores.

The candidate with the highest declared total assets is Mahendra Prasad contesting from Bihar with assets worth Rs.4078.40 crore, followed by Samajwadi Party's Jaya Amitabh Bachchan with assets worth Rs 1001 crore. 

The candidate with the lowest declared total assets is Achyutananda Samananta contesting from Orissa with assets worth Rs.4.96 lakh followed by Samir Oraon with assets worth Rs 18 lakh. 

Seven candidates have declared their educational qualification to be between 10th and 12th while 55 candidates have declared having an educational qualification of graduate or above. None of the candidates is less than 42 years of age. 38 candidates are aged between 42 to 60
years while 25 candidates are between 61 to 80 years.

Among the 63 contesting candidates analysed, 5 are women. The details of Congress candidate Dhiraj Kumar Sahu from Jharkhand have not been analysed as his affidavit was badly scanned.