The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has found that 27% of the winning candidates in the Uttarakhand assembly polls have declared criminal cases against themselves. This analysis was based on the self-sworn affidavits of all 70 winning candidates, comparing the current 27% figure to the 31% of winning candidates in the 2017 elections.
In addition, 14% of the winning candidates have declared serious criminal cases against themselves. The breakdown of this data shows that 17% of the winning candidates from BJP, 42% from Congress, 50% from BSP, and 100% of Independent winning candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves.
Furthermore, 11% of the winning BJP candidates, 21% of the winning Congress candidates, and 50% of the Independent winners have declared serious criminal cases against themselves.
The analysis also revealed that 83% of the winning candidates are crorepatis, which is an increase from 73% in 2017. This includes 85% of winning candidates from BJP, 79% from Congress, and both winning candidates from BSP, as well as 50% of Independent winning candidates, who have declared assets worth more than Rs. 1 crore.
The BJP won 47 of the 70 seats in the assembly polls, and according to ADR criteria, a “serious criminal case” refers to any offence with a maximum punishment of five years or more, non-bailable offences, electoral offences, offences related to loss to exchequer, assault, murder, kidnap, rape, crimes under the Prevention of Corruption Act, and crimes against women.
