The role of money and muscle power reigns supreme in the state of five rivers, the Punjab going to polls on February 20. As many 25 per cent candidates have declared in their self-sworn affidavits that they face criminal cases against themselves, reveal the PEW and ADR report.
About 1.5 crore voters face a tough task to choose new lawmakers among 1304 candidates out whom as many as 315 (25%) candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves in self-sworn affidavits submitted to the Election Commission of India. Majority of them are crorepatis, while 58 per cent of them say they have not seen college, reveal PEW and ADR report released to media today.
As compared with 2017 Punjab assembly elections, out of 1145 candidates analysed, 100(9%) had declared criminal cases against themselves. This has shown alarming increase of 16 per cent over the last five years. On the other hand, average assets per candidate contesting in the Punjab Assembly Elections 2022 is Rs 4.31 Crores. In 2017 Punjab Assembly Elections, average assets per candidate for 1145 candidates was Rs.3.49 crores showing that money power is becoming a potent weapon in elections in Punjab, reveal the report.
Punjab Election Watch (PEW) and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) have analysed the self-sworn affidavits of 1276 candidates out of 1304, who are contesting in the Punjab Assembly Elections 2022.
Top three Crorapatis that the voters are watching are Kulwant Singh contesting from SAS Nagar, AAP has assets worth Rs 238 crore. Behind him is SAD supremo Sukhbir Singh Badal contesting from Jalalabad with Rs 202 Crore and at the third place is Karan Kaur of Congress contesting from Muktsar, who has assets worth Rs 155 crore.
Rana Gurjeet Singh Kapurthala Congress has stated in his affidavit that he has liabilities of Rs 125 crore and Rs 71 crore. SAD leader Sukhbir Singh Badal has declared that he has to pay liabilities worth Rs 202 crore and Rs 66 crores. Aman Arora from Sunam Rs 95 crore and Rs 22 crore.
The two AAP candidates-Kulwant Singh (SAS Nagar) and Aman Arora Sunam – claim in their affidavits that they along with their spouses have income of Rs 16 crore and Rs 5 crore respectively. Manpreet Singh Badal contesting from Bhatinda has declared an income of Rs 3 crore (both self and spouse) in 2020-21.
As many as 218(17%) have declared serious criminal cases against themselves. In 2017 Punjab Assembly Elections, 77 (7%) candidates had declared serious criminal cases against themselves.
All the parties sail in the same boat. As many as 65(68%) out of 96 candidates analysed from SAD, 58(50%) out of 117 candidates analysed from AAP have allotted tickets to candidates with criminal background. Similarly, 27 (38%) out of 71 candidates analysed from BJP, 4 (29%) out of 14 candidates analysed from Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt), 3 (15%) out of 20 candidates analysed from BSP, 16(14%) out of 117 candidates analysed from INC and 3 (11%) out of 27 candidates analysed from Punjab Lok Congress Party have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits, the report says.
As many as 15 candidates have declared cases related to crime against women. Out of 15 candidates 2 candidates have declared cases related to rape (IPC Section-376). Four candidates have declared cases related to murder (IPC Section-302) against themselves, wile 33 other candidates have declared cases related to attempt to murder (IPC Section-307) against themselves.
As a result, ECI has declared 117 constituencies as red alert constituencies because there are more then three contesting candidates who have declared criminal cases against themselves.
As parties gave damn to the directions of the Supreme Court that in selection of candidates in the Punjab Assembly Elections 2022 as they have again followed their old practice of giving tickets to around 25% candidates with criminal cases.
While muscle power rules supreme in the Punjab polls, the role of money power is even more evident. All major political parties give tickets to wealthy candidates. As many as 89(93%) candidates of SAD, 107(92%) of INC, 60(85%) of BJP, 16(80%) candidates from BSP, 11(79%) out of 14 candidates of Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt), 81(69%) of AAP and 16(59%) Punjab Lok Congress Party have declared assets valued more than Rs 1 crore.
The average assets per candidate for 117 INC candidates analysed is Rs. 13.27 Crores, 96 SAD candidates analysed is Rs 12.69 Crores, 71 BJP candidates have average assets of Rs 7.69 Crores, 117 AAP candidates have average assets of Rs 7.03 Crores, 14 Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt) candidates have average assets of Rs 5.36 Crores, 27 Punjab Lok Congress Party candidates have average assets of Rs 5.27 Crores and 20 BSP candidates have average assets worth Rs. 4.27 Crores.
Parties in Punjab also cared no two hoots for the giving tickets to the educated candidates. As many as 695(54%) candidates have declared their educational qualifications to be between 5th and 12th standard while 483 (38%) candidates have declared having an educational qualification of graduate or above. As many as 24 candidates are diploma holders, while 21 candidates have declared themselves to be just literate and 49 candidates are illiterates and four candidates have not given their educational qualification.
The voters on Punjab will elect relatively young candidates. As many as 349(27%) candidates have declared their age to be between 25 to 40 years while 671 (53%) candidates have declared their age to be between 41 to 60 years. There are 254(20%) candidates who have declared their age to be between 61 to 80 years and two candidates have declared they are more than 80 years old.
There are 90(7%) female candidates in fray in Punjab. In 2017 Punjab Assembly Elections, 81(7%) out of 1145 candidates analysed were women that show the trend that Parties still do not give importance to women candidates.
PEW and ADR have not analysed 28 candidates as their affidavits were either badly scanned or complete affidavits were not uploaded on the ECI website.
