Of the 1,064 candidates contesting in the phase I of the Bihar Assembly elections, 375 or 35 per cent have given their financial assets worth crores of rupees while five candidates have declared zero assets. The average of assets per candidate contesting in the phase I Bihar polls is `1.99 crore. Besides, 328 candidates have criminal cases registered against them while 23 percent or 244 candidates have declared serious criminal cases non-bailable offences with over five years of imprisonment (against themselves).
The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) which has analysed self-sworn affidavits of 1064 out of 1066 candidates in the fray, revealed that 375 (35 per cent) are crorepatis. While 93 (9 per cent) candidates have declared assets worth `5 crore and above, 123 (12 per cent) candidates have declared assets worth `2 crore to `5 crore.
According to the ADR, the average assets per candidate for 35 JD(U) candidates is `8.12 crore while the average ` 6.98 crore. The average assets for 21 Congress candidates is ` 6.03 crore. For LJP candidates, the average assets of 41 candidates is estimated `4.62 crore while the 29 BJP candidates have average assets of `3.10 crore and 26 BSP candidates have average assets worth Rs. 1.36 crore.
The ADR said that 31 (89 per cent) out of 35 candidates from JDU, 24 (83 per cent) out of 29 candidates from BJP, 30 (73 per cent) out of 41 candidates from LJP, 14 (67 per cent) out of 21 candidates from Congress and 12 (46 per cent) out of 26 candidates from BSP have declared assets worth more than Rs one crore.
According to the report, 30 (73 per cent) out of 41 candidates from the RJD have declared criminal cases against themselves and 22 (54 per cent) have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits. About 21 (72 per cent) out of 29 candidates from the BJP have declared criminal cases and 13 (45 per cent) have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.
The poll body report said that about 24 (59 per cent) out of 41 candidates analysed from the LJP have declared criminal cases against themselves and 20 (49 per cent) have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.
About 12 (57 per cent) out of 21 candidates from the Congress, 15 (43 per cent) out of 35 candidates of the JD(U) and eight (31 per cent) out of 26 candidates of the BSP have declared criminal cases against themselves.