36% of Rajya Sabha candidates declared criminal cases against themselves

New Delhi – Elections will be held on 27th February for the 56 vacant Rajya Sabha seats from 16 States in the country. 41 of them have been elected unopposed. Out of the 59 candidates running in this election, 36% of the candidates have criminal charges against them. Additionally, 17% of these individuals face serious criminal charges with one candidate having cases related to attempted murder. Among them are 8 candidates of BJP and 6 candidates of Congress. The report was given by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR). This information has been obtained after analysing the affidavit submitted by the candidates while applying for the Rajya Sabha elections.

The ADR report also revealed that 21% of the candidates have assets of more than ₹100 crore. Congress candidate from Himachal Pradesh Abhishek Manu Singhvi’s net worth is ₹1,872 crore, while Samajwadi Party candidate Jaya Amitabh Bachchan from Uttar Pradesh has a net worth of ₹1,578 crore. Janata Dal’s (Secular) candidate from Karnataka Kupendra Reddy has a net worth of ₹817 crore. Interestingly, BJP’s Balyogi Umesh Nath, the poorest candidate among them, has a wealth of ‘only’ ₹47 lakh.

Editorial Perspective

In India, it is considered that if a candidate contesting an election does not have a crime registered him/her, then they are not eligible for candidacy.