Assam Assembly polls: 14% candidates face criminal cases, BJP tops ‘crorepati’ list

Altogether 82 candidates (11 per cent) have declared serious criminal cases against them.

Image used for representational purposes only. Photo | Express Illustrations.

GUWAHATI: Fourteen per cent of the April 9 Assam election candidates have declared criminal cases against them, an analysis by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) said. 

The ADR analysed the self-sworn affidavits of all 722 candidates. Altogether 102 or 14 per cent of them have declared criminal cases against them, the report, released on Tuesday, stated. 

It was marginally higher in the 2021 polls. Of the 941 candidates, 138 or 15 per cent had declared criminal cases against them.

According to the ADR report, 28 of the 99 Congress candidates have criminal cases against them. Similarly, eight of the 90 from the BJP, 11 of the 30 from the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), six of the 26 from the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), two of the 13 from the Raijor Dal, two of the 10 from the Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) and one of the three from the CPI(ML) have criminal cases against them.

Altogether 82 candidates (11 per cent) have declared serious criminal cases against them. The candidates include 20 from the Congress, eight from the BJP, nine from the AIUDF, five from the AGP, two from the Raijor Dal and one each from the AJP and the CPI(ML). In the 2021 polls, 109 (12 per cent) had declared serious criminal cases against them.

Two candidates have declared cases related to crime against women, while eight have declared cases related to murder (IPC Section-302) and (BNS Section-103) against them. Nine candidates have declared cases related to attempt to murder (IPC Section-307) and (BNS Section-109) against them.

Altogether 323 candidates have declared their educational qualifications to be between 5th and 12th standard, while 384 have declared having an educational qualification of graduate or above. Twelve candidates are diploma holders and three have declared themselves to be just literate.

With 79, the ruling BJP has the highest number of crorepati candidates. The Congress has 60, AIUDF 16, AGP 18, United People’s Party Liberal 10, Raijor Dal six, Bodoland Peoples Front nine, AJP seven, CPI(M) two and CPI(ML) one.