Chandigarh, February 11
Punjab Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) have analysed the self-sworn affidavits of 1,276 candidates out of 1,304, who are contesting the Punjab Assembly elections.
The report was released by Jaskirat Singh, trustee, ADR, Parvinder Singh Kittna, Punjab Election Watch, and Harpreet Singh here on Friday.
Of the 1,276 candidates analysed, 228 are from national parties, 256 from state parties, 345 from registered unrecognised parties and 447 candidates are contesting independently.
Punjab Election Watch and ADR could not analyse 28 candidates as their affidavits were either badly scanned or complete affidavits were not uploaded on the ECI website.
Of the 1,276 candidates analysed, 315 (25 per cent) candidates have declared criminal cases against them. It includes 218 or 17 per cent with serious offences.
In the 2017 Punjab Assembly election, of the 1,145 candidates analysed, 100 (9 per cent) had declared criminal cases against them, including 7 per cent with serious offences.
Among the major parties, 65 (68 per cent) out of 96 candidates analysed from SAD, 58 (50 per cent) out of 117 candidates analysed from AAP, 27 (38 per cent) out of 71 candidates analysed from the BJP, four (29 per cent) out of 14 candidates analysed from Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt), three (15 per cent) out of 20 candidates analysed from the BSP, 16 (14 per cent) out of 117 candidates analysed from the Congress and three (11 per cent) out of 27 candidates analysed from Punjab Lok Congress have declared criminal cases against them.
Among the major parties, 60 (63 per cent) out of 96 candidates analysed from SAD, 27 (23 per cent) out of 117 candidates analysed from AAP, 15 (21 per cent) out of 71 candidates analysed from the BJP, three (21 per cent) out of 14 candidates analysed from Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt), three (15 per cent) out of 20 candidates analysed from the BSP, nine (8 per cent) out of 117 candidates analysed from the Congress and two (7 per cent) out of 27 candidates analysed from Punjab Lok Congress have declared serious criminal cases against them.
Fifteen candidates have declared cases related to crime against women. Of these, two candidates have declared cases related to rape, four to murder and 33 candidates have declared cases related to attempt to murder against them.
As many as 57 (49 per cent) of the 117 constituencies in the state are red-alert constituencies. Red-alert constituencies are those where three or more contesting candidates have declared criminal cases against them.
Of the 1,276 candidates, 521 (41 per cent) are crorepatis. In the 2017 Punjab Assembly elections, of the 1,145 candidates, 428 (37 per cent) were crorepatis.
The role of money power in our elections is evident from the fact that all major political parties give tickets to wealthy candidates. Among the major parties 89 (93 per cent) out of 96 candidates analysed from SAD, 107 (92 per cent) out of 117 candidates analysed from the Congress, 60 (85 per cent) out of 71 candidates analysed from the BJP, 16 (80 per cent) out of 20 candidates analysed from the BSP, 11 (79 per cent) out of 14 candidates analysed from the Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt), 81 (69 per cent) out of 117 candidates analysed from AAP and 16 (59 per cent) out of 27 candidates analysed from Punjab Lok Congress have declared assets valued more than Rs 1 crore.
The average assets per candidate contesting the Punjab Assembly elections are Rs 4.31 crore. In the 2017 Punjab Assembly elections, the average assets per candidate for 1,145 candidates were Rs 3.49 crore.
Among major parties, the average assets per candidate for 117 Congress candidates analysed are Rs 13.27 crore; 96 SAD candidates have average assets of Rs 12.69 crore, 71 BJP candidates have average assets of Rs 7.69 crore, 117 AAP candidates have average assets of Rs 7.03 crore, 14 Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt) candidates have average assets of Rs 5.36 crore, 27 Punjab Lok Congress candidates have average assets of Rs 5.27 crore and 20 BSP candidates have average assets of Rs 4.27 crore.
The highest assets among the candidates in the fray are those of Kulwant Singh of AAP from SAS Nagar, at Rs 238 crore, Sukhbir Singh Badal of SAD from Jalalabad at Rs 202 crore, Karan Kaur of the Congress from Muktsar at Rs 155 crore.
Five candidates have declared zero assets; 653 (51 per cent) candidates have declared liabilities in their affidavits. Among the candidates who have declared highest liabilities are Rana Gurjit Singh of the Congress at Rs 71.75 crore, Sukhbir Singh Badal of the SAD at Rs 66.95 crore, and Aman Arora of AAP at Rs 22.88 crore.
Candidates who have declared highest annual income are Kulwant Singh of AAP from SAS Nagar at Rs 16.33 crore, Aman Arora of AAP at Rs 5.66 crore, and Manpreet Singh Badal of the Congress at 3.15 crores.
As many as 695 (54 per cent) candidates have declared their educational qualifications to be between fifth standard pass and 12th standard pass while 483 (38 per cent) candidates have declared having an educational qualification of graduate or above; 24 candidates are diploma holders; 21 candidates have declared themselves to be just literate and 49 candidates are illiterates; four candidates have not given their educational qualification.
As many as 349 (27 per cent) candidates have declared their age to be between 25 and 40 while 671 (53 per cent) candidates have declared their age to be between 41 and 60. There are 254 (20 per cent) candidates who have declared their age to be between 61 and 80 and two candidates have declared that they are above 80.
As many as 90 (7 per cent) women candidates are contesting the Punjab assembly election. In the 2017 Punjab Assembly election, 81 (7 per cent) of the 1,145 candidates analysed were women.
