In Uttar Pradesh 22 per cent of the candidates contesting the polls in the fifth phase of elections in Uttar Pradesh on 15 lok Sabha seats have criminal antecedents where polling is scheduled on May 7. In the fifth phase, 30 per cent of the candidates are crorepatis.
UP Election Watch, who verified the affidavits of 241 out of the total 243 candidates contesting in the fifth phase of elections, claimed that 52 of them have criminal backgrounds with 42 having serious charges against them like murder, attempt to murder and kidnaping charges against them. Similarly, 72 candidates have declared their assets of Rs1 crore or above.
Election Commission will have a major challenge over the security aspect in the coming phase as out of the 15 seats, 10 are declared as red alert constituencies as there are three or more criminal background candidates. Sant Kabir Nagar and Phulpur seats have the highest six criminals contesting the polls while five each in Ambedkarnagar, Pratapgarh, four each in Bahriach, Shravasti and Gonda and three each in Kaiserganj,Allahabad and Faizabad constituencies.
Atiq Ahmed of the Samajwadi Party contesting from Shravasti seat tops the list of criminals in the State. He has 42 criminal cases against him including six murder, four kidnapping and six attempt to murder. Atiq is followed by BSP’s Pawan Pandey contesting from Sultanpur seat who has 32 cases against him including four murders and one rape charge. SP’s Mitrasen Yadav contesting from Faizabad has 15 cases against him including six attempt to murder. BJP’s Keshav Prasad Maurya contesting from Phulpur seat has 11 cases against him including one murder charge.
BSP’s Kapilmuni Karwaria, also contesting from Phulpur has four cases against him including one murder while BSP’s Rakesh Pandey contesting from Ambedkarnagar seat has three cases against him including one murder and one kidnapping. BSP’s Jitendra Kumar Singh Babloo in Faizabad seat has 17 cases against him including four attempt to murder. Cases of communal riots are also pending against the BJP candidate from Kaiserganj Brajbhushan Singh, Keshwav Maurya and Atiq Ahmed.
BJP’s Shyama Charan Gupta of Allahabad tops the list of crorepatis in the fifth phase of elections whose total assets is around Rs47 crore. Apna Dal’s Kunwar Hairnath Singh in Pratapgarh has assets worth Rs38 crores while BJP’s Varun Gandhi contesting from Sultanpur has assets worth Rs35 crores. Congress candidate Amita Singh from Sultanpur has assets worth Rs34 crores, BSP’s Rakesh Pandey from Ambedkarnagar has assets worth Rs27 crores and Atiq Ahmed of SP from Shravasti has assets worth Rs25 crores. Cricketar-turned-politician Mohammad Kaif, contesting from Phulpur on Congress ticket has assets worth Rs18 crore while Independent candidate from Phulpur Dr Milan Mukherjee has assets worth Rs17 crores.
