[National Election Watch news] 13% candidates in 2008 elections in MP, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Rajasthan & Mizoram had declared criminal cases, 12% were crorepatis, 8% were women

Dear Friends,

Please find attached a report on the analysis of candidates fielded during the elections of 2008 in Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram and the criminal, financial and gender details the outgoing MLAs of the above five states.

MAIN HIGHLIGHTS OF THE REPORT

Analysis based on declared pending criminal cases:

· 13% of the contesting candidates (879 out of 6870 candidates) from five states had self declared pending criminal cases as per their affidavits during 2008 assembly elections. 394 (6%) candidates in 2008 assembly elections have declared serious criminal cases against themselves.

· 21% of MLAs (128 out of 607 MLAs) from these five states have self declared pending criminal cases. 47 MLAs had declared serious criminal cases against themselves.

· Delhi has maximum percentage (43%) of MLAs with declared criminal cases against them followed by Madhya Pradesh (25%) among the five states.

· Madhya Pradesh has highest percentage (11%) of MLAs with serious criminal cases followed by Delhi and Chhattisgarh with 9%.

Mizoram, with 7% has the lowest percentage of MLAs with criminal cases among the five states.

· Among major parties INC had fielded 30% tainted candidates in Delhi, 31% in Madhya Pradesh during 2008 Assembly elections. BJP had given tickets to 35% candidates with criminal cases in Delhi while 22% tainted candidates were given tickets in 2008 Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections.

· 38% of MLAs from INC from Delhi and 46% of MLAs from BJP in Delhi have criminal cases against them. In Madhya Pradesh 34% of INC MLAs and 20% of MLAs of BJP have self declared criminal cases.

· NEW and ADR demand that all political parties should give tickets to taint free candidates during these upcoming elections.

Analysis based on assets:

· 264 (43%) MLAs out of the 607 analysed from the five states are crorepatis while 837 (12%) candidates out of 6870 were crorepatis.

· Delhi has the highest percentage (69%) of crorepati MLAs followed by Rajasthan with 46% crorepati MLAs and Madhya Pradesh with 38%.

Analysis based on gender

· Out of 7520 candidates contested during 2008 assembly elections in five states, only 8% (564) were women candidates. Lowest percentage of women candidates were fielded in Mizoram (4%), while Delhi and Chhattisgarh states recorded 9% women candidates which was the highest among the five states.

· Out of 630 MLAs from the five state assemblies only 67 (11%) are women. Rajasthan has the highest percentage of women MLAs (14%), while Mizoram assembly has no women representation. Delhi has only 4% women MLAs.

National Election Watch/Association for Democratic Reforms