Jharkhand Polls: 14% Candidates in Phase 1 Have Serious Criminal Cases, 31% Are Crorepatis, Shows Report

New Delhi: Of the 189 contesting candidates in fray in the first phase of the Jharkhand Assembly election, 26, or 14%, have serious criminal cases against them. These include cases of murder, attempt to murder, criminal intimidation, and extortion.

Overall, a total of 44 candidates have declared criminal cases in their self-sworn affidavits, according to an analysis by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

Among the major parties, three of the six Congress candidates, four of the 12 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates, four of the 12 Janata Dal (United) candidates, and one of the four Jharkhand Mukti Mocha (JMM) candidates have serious criminal cases against them, as per the report.

Elections in Jharkhand will be held over five phases — voting for the first phase will be held on November 30, with 13 of the 81 Assembly seats on the line. These seats are: Chatra, Garhwa, Bhawanthpur, Gumla, Bishnupur, Manika, Latehar, Lohardaga, Panki, Daltonganj, Bishrampur, Chhatarpur, and Hussainabad.

Interestingly, given the total number of candidates with criminal cases (44) in seven of the 13 constituencies going to polls in the first phase, there are three or more candidates with declared criminal cases.

Moreover, 59, or 31%, of the total candidates in the first phase are 'crorepatis', in one of the poorest states in the country. These are led by Krishna Nand Tripathi and Rameshwar Oraon of the Congress, who have declared assets of Rs 53 crore and Rs 28 crore, respectively. Tripathi will contest from Daltonganj constituency whereas Oraon from Lohardaga.

Kushwaha Shashi Bhushan Mehta of the BJP, contesting from Panki constituency, is the third richest candidate with declared assets worth Rs 27 crore.

The average assets per candidate in the first phase of the polls are Rs 1.85 crore. Party-wise, while all the three candidates of the All Jharkhand Students’ Union (AJSU) party are 'crorepatis', five of the six Congress candidates, nine of the 12 BJP candidates, and seven of the 13 candidates of Babulal Marandi’s Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) are 'crorepatis'.