In all 174 candidates out of 583 contesting in 49 constituencies going to poll in the first phase have criminal records. The Association for Democratic Rights (ADR) and Bihar Election Watch have come out with the analysis of criminal background, financial, educational, gender and other details of the candidates. Of the 174 candidates declaring criminal cases against them at least 90 faces serious charges like murders, attempt to murder, kidnapping, dacoity and crime against women.
Fourteen candidates of BJP, 8 each of Congress, lJP and CPI, 9 each of of JD(U) and Samajwadi Party, 6 of RJD, 11 of BSP have declared criminal cases against them. Pradeep Kumar of the JD(U)) from Warsaliganj constituency is among 16 candidates who have declared charges related to murder. Ramswarup Yadav, an Independent candidate from Hisua constituency, faces five charges related to attempt to murder. Three each of BJP, and JD(U), and one each of Jan Adhikar Party and Independent candidate have each declared 2 charges related to attempt to murder. Eleven candidates have declared cases related to crimes against women.
Out of a total of 583 candidates in the first phase 174 are facing criminal cases which come to 30 per cent and of them 130 have serious criminal cases.
The Election Commission has declared 37 constituencies as Red Alert constituencies where three or more candidates are with criminal cases. A maximum of nine candidates with criminals records are contesting in Mohiuddin Nagar in Samastipur.
There are 146 candidates who are crorepatis. Of them 27 have been fielded by the BJP, 19 by JD(U), 11 by RJD, six by Congress, 8 by lJP and 42 candidates are Independent. The average of assets per candidate contesting in the first phase is Rs1.44 crore while for BJP candidates it comes to Rs2.15 crore and for JD(U) candidates it is Rs4.63 crore.
Binod Kumar Singh, an Independent contesting from Warisnagar in Samastipur has declared assets worth Rs74.73 crore while Poonam Devi Yadav of JD(U) (Khagaria) and Ajit Sharma of Congress (Bhagalpur), both sitting MlAs, have assets of Rs41.34 crore and Rs40.57 crore respectively. Sharma however has a liabilaity of Rs3 crore. Umashankar Bhagat, an Independent, contesting from Jhajha has the highest liability of over Rs11 crore.
Interestingly, there are at least 11 candidates who have declared assets more than Rs1 crore have no PAN. There are three candidates who have assets ranging between Rs2 crore to Rs10 crore but have not furnished details of their income tax return.
Of the 583 candidates in the fray three are illiterate while majority of them are 12th pass and 241 have declared having an educational qualification of graduate or above. Ten of them have doctorate degree, 63 are post graduate, 44 are graduate professional and 124 are graduate while a maximum of 143 are 12th pass.
The number of women candidates is only 53 which come to only 9 per cent as against 530 men in the first phase.