Altogether 19 per cent of the candidates contesting in the sixth and last phase of elections in Uttar Pradesh are of criminal background while 29 per cent are crorepatis.
Out of the total 328 candidates contesting the polls in the last phase of elections in 19 lok Sabha seats where polling is scheduled on May 12, as per the affidavits of 325 candidates, 63 are of criminal antecedents while 93 are crorepatis.
According to the statistics given by Election Watch, here on Monday, among the criminals 54 or 17 per cent are charged with serious crimes like murders, attempt to murders, rape and kidnapping. Among the criminals ,Quami Ekta Dal candidate from Ghosi seat Mukhtar Ansari, an independent MlA, has been charged with 15 cases including four each in murders and attempt to murders.
Dhananjay Singh, contesting as Independent from Jaunpur seat has four cases against him including 2 murder charges and one rape. QED candidate Afzal Ansari, elder brother of Mukhtar, who is contesting from Ghazipur has 3 cases against him while K P Yadav of AAP contesting from Jaunpur has three cases against him.
BJP candidate Yogi Adityanath contesting from Gorakhpur has three cases against him while BSP candidate Ram Bhual Nishad also from Gorakhpur seat has 7 cases against him. BJP candidate from Azamgarh, Ramakant Yadav has 5 cases against him including 2 attempt to murder.
Among the crorepatis, Dr Sangam Mishra of the BSP contesting from Kushinagar seat is the richest with an asset of Rs 46 crore followed by BSP’s Subhash Pandey from Jaunpur of Rs 37 crore and Kashinath from Maharajganj of Rs 33 crore. Peace Party candidate from Doomariaganj, Dr Mohammad Ayub has a property of Rs 31 crores, Kailash Nath Singh Yadav of BSP from Ghazipur has Rs 24 crores assets, B P Saroj of BSP contesting from Machilisahar has an asset of Rs 21 crore and Pankaj of BJP contesting from Maharajganj has Rs 19 crore assets.
Interestingly Sashi Sinha of ex-Sainik Kranti Party from Chandauli has just Rs 15,000 asset.
However, mafia don Mukhtar Ansari of QED contesting from Ghosi has assets worth Rs 18 crore but his liability is over Rs 8 crore. Similarly Kashinath has Rs 33 crore but is liability is over Rs 7 crore and Shivkanya Kushwaha of the SP contesting from Ghazipur has Rs 7 crore assets and liability of over Rs 2 crore.
Shivkanya is the wife of Babu Singh Kushwaha, who is lodged in the jail for his involvement in the multi crore rupees NRHM scam during the previous Mayawati regime.