Representational.
New Delhi: According to a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), 36% of Rajya Sabha candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves.
The analysis, based on self-sworn affidavits of 58 candidates contesting 56 seats in 15 states, revealed that 17% of these candidates face serious criminal charges, with one having cases related to attempted murder.
The ADR and the National Election Watch conducted the analysis, omitting Congress candidate G C Chandrashekar from Karnataka due to poorly scanned documents.
The breakdown by party indicates that 27% of BJP candidates, 67% of Congress candidates, 25% of TMC candidates, 67% of SP candidates, 33% of YSRCP candidates, 50% of RJD nominees, 50% of BJD candidates, and 100% of BRS candidate declared criminal cases in their affidavits.
Financially, approximately 21% of candidates are billionaires, with assets exceeding Rs 100 crore. The average assets of Rajya Sabha candidates are Rs 127.81 crore. The three wealthiest candidates identified in the analysis are Congress nominee Abhishek Manu Singhvi with assets worth Rs 1,872 crore, Samajwadi Party nominee Jaya Amitabh Bachchan with assets worth Rs 1,578 crore, and JD(S) nominee Kupendra Reddy from Karnataka with Rs 871 crore.
On the lower end of the financial spectrum, BJP's Madhya Pradesh candidate Balyogi Umesh Nath has assets worth over Rs 47 lakh, BJP's West Bengal candidate Samik Bhattacharya has assets worth Rs 1 crore, and BJP's Uttar Pradesh candidate Sangita has assets worth Rs 1 crore.
In terms of education, 17% of the candidates have qualifications ranging from 5th pass to 12th pass, while 79% hold graduate or higher degrees. The age distribution shows that 76% fall in the 51-70 age group, 16% in the 31-50 age group, and only 19% are women.