Almost every major political party in Odisha has fielded candidates with criminal records for the ensuing first phase lok Sabha polls scheduled on April 10.
According to the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Odisha Election Watch (OEW), 19 out of the 98 candidates in the fray for the upcoming lS elections in the State have criminal cases pending against them.
The report stated that four out of 10 candidates fielded by BJP, one out of 10 candidates from INC, two out of 10 of BJD, three out of eight candidates of AAP, one out of 10 of BSP, one out of one candidate of CPI(M) and two out of 17 of Independent candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.
Of these 19 candidates, while 13 have declared serious criminal case like murder, attempt to murder, dacoity and criminal intimidation pending against them, Narendra Mohanty of Aam Aadmi Party from Kandhamal Constituency has declared the highest of 28 cases against him.
Out of the 28, three charges are related to murder (Section 302 of IPC), one attempt to murder (section 307 of IPC) and one dacoity with murder (section 396 of IPC), informed OEW State coordinator Ranjan Kumar Mohanty while releasing the analysis report which was prepared taking the self-sworn affidavits of the candidates.
Mohanty said the affidavit of Das Charan Majhi of Jharkhand Discom Party from Sundargarh constituency could not be analysed due to unclear affidavit available on Election Commission of India
(ECI) site.
lambodar Kanhar, an Independent candidate from Kandhamal constituency ranks second with seven serious IPC counts against him followed by Sangeeta Kumari Singh Deo, wife State BJP unit president Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo, from Balangir constituency with three IPC cases against her. Kanhar has two charges related to attempt to murder against him.
The candidates having cases related to crimes against women were lambodar Kanhar, Sukanta Kumar Panigrahi of BJP from Kandhamal constituency who has a case against him for assault and use of criminal force against a woman with the intent to outrage her modesty and Ashok Bisi of CPI from the Bargarh constituency who has a case related to husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty.
Taking Red alert constituencies into account, two constituencies, Kalahandi and Kandhamal, have at least three candidates each from political parties with declared criminal cases against them. Out of 97 candidates, only six women are contesting the lok Sabha polls.Similarly, the report stated that out of the 97 candidates 26 candidates are crorepatis.