UP Lok Sabha fourth phase: Out of 130 candidates 36 have criminal cases: ADR
Tajdar H. Zaidi
Lucknow: Out of 130 candidates contesting for the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, 36 candidates have criminal cases registered against them. The polling in fourth phase is on May 13.
While 53 candidates are millionaires, one candidate does not have any property. In this phase, candidates aged between 25 to 80 years have entered the electoral battle on behalf of various political parties.
According to the report released by Uttar Pradesh Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms, in the fourth phase, elections will be fought in 13 constituencies Akbarpur, Bahraich, Dhaurahara, Etawah, Farrukhabad, Hardoi, Kannauj, Kanpur, Kheri, Misrikh, Shahjahanpur, Sitapur and Unnao. Of the 130 candidates who are in fray, 23 percent have serious criminal cases registered against them.
These include four out of 13 from BJP, five out of 13 from Bahujan Samaj Party, seven out of 11 from SP, two out of two from Congress, one out of four from Sardar Patel Siddhant Party, two out of three from Rashtriya Shoshit Samaj Party. There are criminal cases registered against the candidates.
According to ADR 100 percent of Congress, 31 percent of BJP, 38 percent of BSP and 36 percent of SP candidates have serious criminal cases registered against them. 13 criminal cases have been registered against BJP candidate from Akbarpur, Devendra Singh, five against Alok Mishra contesting on Congress ticket from Kanpur and four against Shyam Kishore Awasthi contesting from Daurahara on BSP.
Uttar Pradesh Election Watch ADR State Convenor Santosh Srivastava said that out of 130 candidates, 53 are crorepatis. Among these, 13 out of 13 candidates from BJP, 10 out of 13 from BSP, 10 out of 11 from SP and two out of 2 from Congress are crorepatis.
He said Annu Tandon (Unnao) is the richest candidate in the fourth phase. He said Annu Tandon, who is contesting on Samajwadi Party ticket from Unnao, whose assets are around Rs 79 crore. At the second position, SP national president Akhilesh Yadav, who is contesting elections from Kannauj, has assets worth Rs 42 crore. At number three, Kanpur Congress candidate Alok Mishra has assets worth around Rs 35 crore. Kumari Panchshila Anand, a candidate of Uttar Pradesh Republican Party from Kheri constituency, has declared her assets as zero. He said that 37 candidates have declared their educational qualification between class 5th and 12th. 85 candidates are graduates and above. One is a diploma holder, five are literate and two candidates are illiterate. In this phase, 46 candidates between 25 to 40 years of age, 64 between 41 to 60 years of age and 20 candidates between 61 to 80 years of age are trying their luck in the election field. The ADR said only 12 percent women candidates are in the battlefield. The ADR said said that out of 130, only 16 women candidates have been given tickets by various political parties. He said that the agenda of all the parties is women’s reservation, but they are being stingy in giving tickets to women.
