Candidates with clean record have only 5% chances of winning in Bihar elections, says study

Only 5 per cent of chances for winning in Bihar election with a clean record and 15 per cent for a candidate with a criminal record, an Analysis of total candidates in Bihar elections from 2005 to 2019 revealed. 30 per cent of total candidates, 3220 out of 10785, have declared criminal cases and 20 percent out of total candidates have declared with serious criminal cases. Out of total of 820 MPs/MLAs of Bihar from 2005, 57 per cent have criminal cases and 36 per cent have declared with serious criminal cases.

The study was jointly conducted by the Association for Democratic Reform (ADR) and Bihar Election Watch (BEW) based on the information from affidavits submitted by candidates prior to elections in 2005-19.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have the greatest number of candidates (59 per cent of their total candidates) with criminal cases followed by Indian National Congress (INC) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). Average assets of MLAs and MPs with serious criminal cases in 2005 in Bihar is 6.29 crores against the total average of 4.04 crore, study shows. In the analysis, no strong correlation observed between educational qualification and criminal cases of candidates.

Currently, 57 per cent of sitting MLAs in Bihar assembly is with criminal cases against themselves, and 11 MLAs are related to murder cases.