Out of 74 candidates contesting in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections, nine have criminal cases against them with five of them facing serious criminal cases including voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons and criminal intimidation, a report said today.
The fourth phase of elections is to be held for seven seats of Assam, Tripura, Goa and Sikkim on April 12.
According to a report of Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch (NEW), based on the analysis of the self-sworn affidavits of all the 74 candidates, four candidates have declared multiple serious IPC counts against them.
Party wise, two out of seven candidates from Congress, one out of four candidates from All India Trinamool Congress, both candidates from CPI, the candidate fielded by Goemcarancho Otrec Astro from Goa and three out of 25 Independent candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.
Of the 74 candidates analysed, 20 are crorepatis, with Jawahar Leonardo Dias of Goemcarancho Otrec Astro, who is contesting from south Goa, is the richest with Rs 56 crore worth total assets.
The average assets per candidate contesting in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections is Rs 2.12 Crore.
