16 pc candidates in third phase have criminal background

Altogether 16 per cent of the candidates contesting in the third phase of elections in Uttar Pradesh in 12 lok Sabha seats are of criminal background.  Similarly 35 per cent of the candidates in this phase are crorepatis. There are 168 candidates in fray for the third phase of polling in Uttar Pradesh in 12 seats on April 24.

Giving the above details here on Friday afternoon, Uttar Pradesh Election Watch(UPEW) claimed that 27 out of the 168 candidates, whose affadavits were scrutinized found having criminal cases against them. A total of 58 candidates of the 168 candidate have declared assets worth over Rs one crore, who are contesting in the third phase elections.

Around 23 per cent or 33 candidates of the 146 candidates in the first phase of lok Sabha elections in 10 seats of west UP are of criminal antecedents and have declared criminals cases against them. There are 65 crorepatis in the first phase of polls in the state. In the second phase, 16 per cent candidates were criminals and 35 per cent were crorepatis out of the total 150 where polling was held on last Thursday. 

UPEW convenor Sanjay Singh told reporters here on Friday that in the second phase, 19 candidates have serious criminal charges against them including murders, attempt to murder, rioting and kidnapping. BSP tops the list as of the total 12 candidates 7 are of criminal antecedents, followed by 3 out of 12 of the BJP, 3 out of 6 each of the Congress, one out of 12 candidate of Aam Admi Party(AAP), 2 out of 9 candidates of Peace Party and 5 out of 12 of Samajwadi Party.  SP candidate Rameshwar Singh from Farrukhabad is on the top of the criminal list and  BSp candidate from Mathura Yogesh Kumar, who have murder charges against them. Five candidates have cases of attempt to murder. Three constituencies in the third phase have five criminal background candidates of major political parties in the fray.  

Of the total 58 crorepatis in the third phase of elections in UP, the BSP and SP have the highest with all their 12 candidates are crorepatis, followed by 11 out of 12 candidates of the BJP,  4 of the 6 candidates of Congress and 5 out of 12 of AAP are crorepatis. Out of the total 48 independents in the fray 4 are crorepatis. Twenty-one candidates have an assets overs Rs 5 crore. The average assets of the candidates in phase three in 12 lok Sabha seats is around Rs 4.48 crores. BJP candidates have an average assets worth Rs 19.11 crore, BSP have average of Rs 6.24 crore, SP has Rs 18.53 crores, AAP has Rs 2.44 crore and Congress have Rs 3.20 crores.  

Richest candidate in the third phase is Bollywood dream girl and BJP candidate from Mathura, Hema Malani who have disclosed assets worth over Rs 178 crores followed by Dharmendra Singh Yadav of SP from Etah having assets of over Rs 124 crore and the third is RlD candidate Amar Singh. who has assets of over Rs 96 crores. RlD’s Mirza Mukaram Beg from Firzaobad seat has only assets worth Rs 1000 followed by Suresh Chandra Srivastava of RlD contesting from Farrukhabad have assets worth Rs 22,000 only. Maharam Singh of Bahujan Mukti Party contesting from Mathura has property worth Rs 24,000.  A total of 82 candidates did not disclose their Income Tax return including 6 crorepati candidates.

44 candidates also did not reveal their PAN numbers.