Press Release: Consolidated candidates' report on Criminal Background, Financial and other Details of candidates of Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura Assembly Elections, 2023

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Feb 24, 2023, 1:35:44 AM2/24/23

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Press Release

24 February, 2023

Dear Friends,

The National Election Watch and Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) have analysed the self-sworn affidavits of all 818 candidates who contested in the 3 states assembly elections of Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura.

Out of 818 candidates analysed, 441 are from National parties, 150 are from State parties, 106 are from registered unrecognized parties and 121 candidates are contesting independently.

The full reports in English and Hindi can be accessed here: https://adrindia.org/content/analysis-criminal-background-financial-education-gender-and-other-details-candidates-17

State	Total Contesting Candidates	Total Number of Analysed Candidates
Meghalaya	375	375
Nagaland	184	184
Tripura	259	259
Total	818	818

Summary and Highlights

Party	Total Contesting Candidates	Total Number of Analysed Candidates	candidates with declared Criminal Cases	% of candidates with declared criminal cases	candidates with declared serious criminal cases	% of candidates with declared serious criminal cases	No of Crorepatis	Percentage of Crorepati Candidates
National Parties	441	441	51	12%	26	6%	193	44%
State Parties	150	150	4	3%	3	2%	93	62%
Registered Unrecognized Party	106	106	8	8%	7	7%	34	32%
Independent	121	121	6	5%	4	3%	27	22%
Total	818	818	69	8%	40	5%	347	42%

Table: Party Category Wise Details

Criminal Background

Candidates with Criminal cases: Out of 818 candidates analysed, 69 (8%) have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

Candidates with serious criminal cases: 40 (5 %) candidates have declared serious criminal cases against themselves.

Candidates with declared cases related to murder: 4 candidates have declared cases related to murder (IPC Section-302) against themselves.

Candidates with declared cases related to attempt to murder: 12 candidates have declared cases related to Attempt to murder (IPC Section-307) against themselves.

Candidates with declared cases related to crime against women: 4 candidates have declared cases related to crime against women. Out of 4 candidates 1 candidate has declared case related to rape (IPC Section-376) and 1 candidate has declared case related to person committing rape repeatedly on the same woman (IPC Section- 376(2)(n)).

The directions of the Supreme Court have had no effect on the political parties in selection of candidates in the 3 States Assembly Elections 2023 as they have again followed their old practice of giving tickets to candidates with criminal cases. All major parties contesting in the 3 States assembly elections 2023 have given tickets to candidates who have declared criminal cases against themselves, as follows:

(a) Meghalaya 2 % to 50 %

(b) Nagaland 4 % to 5 %

The Supreme Court in its directions dated 13th February, 2020 had specifically instructed political parties to give reasons for such selection and why other individuals without criminal antecedents could not be selected as candidates. As per these mandatory guidelines, the reasons for such selection has to be with reference to qualifications, achievements and merit of the candidate concerned and not only based on the winnability factor. During the recent 7 State Assembly elections held in 2022, it was observed that political parties gave unfounded and baseless reasons like popularity of the person, does good social work, cases are politically motivated etc. These are not sound and cogent reasons for fielding candidates with tainted backgrounds. This data clearly shows that political parties have no interest in reforming the electoral system and our democracy will continue to suffer at the hands of lawbreakers who become lawmakers.

State wise candidates with self-declared criminal cases

Figure: State wise Percentage of candidates with criminal cases

S.No.	State	Total Number of Candidates Analysed	Number of Candidates with Declared Criminal Cases	% of candidates with declared criminal cases	Number of Candidates with Declared Serious Criminal Cases	% of candidates with declared serious criminal cases
1	Meghalaya	375	21	6%	15	4%
2	Nagaland	184	7	4%	4	2%
3	Tripura	259	41	16%	21	8%
Total		818	69	8%	40	5%

Table: State wise candidates with criminal cases

State wise number of candidates with declared cases related to

Murder, attempt to murder and crime against women

S.No.	State	No of Candidates with declared cases related to murder	No of Candidates with declared cases related to attempt to murder	No of Candidates with declared cases related to crime against women
1	Meghalaya	2	3	4
2	Nagaland	2	1	0
3	Tripura	0	8	0
Total		4	12	4

Table: State wise number of candidates with declared cases related to murder, attempt to murder and crime against women

Figure: State wise number of candidates with declared cases related to murder, attempt to murder and crime against women

Party wise candidates with self-declared criminal cases

Figure: Party wise Percentage of candidates with criminal cases

Party	Total Number Of Candidates Analyzed	Candidates With Declared Criminal Cases	% Of Candidates With Declared Criminal Cases	Candidates With Declared Serious Criminal Cases	% Of Candidates With Declared Serious Criminal Cases
Rising People's Party	1	1	100%	0	0%
Garo National Council	2	1	50%	1	50%
CPI(M)	43	13	30%	5	12%
INC	96	13	14%	6	6%
Republican Party Of India (A)	9	1	11%	1	11%
AITC	84	8	10%	4	5%
Tipra Motha Party	42	4	10%	4	10%
NPP	69	6	9%	4	6%
BJP	135	11	8%	7	5%
Voice Of The People Party	18	1	6%	1	6%
NDPP	40	2	5%	1	3%
Independent	121	6	5%	4	3%
NPF	22	1	5%	1	5%
UDP	46	1	2%	1	2%
Others	90	0	0%	0	0%
Total	818	69	8%	40	5%

Table: Party wise candidates with criminal cases

Financial Background

Crorepati Candidates: Out of 818 candidates analysed, 347(42%) are crorepati.

Figure: State Wise Percentage of Crorepati Candidates

S.No.	State	Total number of Candidates Analysed	Number of Crorepati Candidates	Percentage of Crorepati candidates
1	Meghalaya	375	186	50%
2	Nagaland	184	116	63%
3	Tripura	259	45	17%
Total		818	347	42%

Table: State Wise Crorepati Candidates

Party wise Crorepati Candidates

Figure: Party Wise Percentage of Crorepati Candidates

Party Name	Total number of candidates analyzed	Number of Crorepati Candidates	Percentage of Crorepati candidates
BJP	135	58	43%
Independent	121	27	22%
INC	96	37	39%
AITC	84	31	37%
NPP	69	50	72%
UDP	46	30	65%
CPI(M)	43	7	16%
Tipra Motha Party	42	9	21%
NDPP	40	34	85%
NPF	22	13	59%
Voice of the People Party	18	7	39%
Lok Janshakti Party(Ram Vilas)	16	12	75%
NCP	12	10	83%
Hill State People's Democratic Party	11	8	73%
JD(U)	10	4	40%
Republican Party of India (Athawale)	10	3	30%
PDF	9	3	33%
Republican Party of India (A)	9	1	11%
RJD	3	1	33%
Republican Party of India	2	1	50%
Gana Suraksha Party	1	1	100%
Others	19	0	0%
Total	818	347	42%

Table: Party wise Crorepati candidates

Average assets: The average of assets per candidate contesting is Rs 4.14 Crores.

Figure: State Wise Average Assets of Candidates

S.No.	State	Total number of Candidates Analysed	Average Assets (Rs)
1	Meghalaya	375	Rs 5,91,61,938 5 Crore+
2	Nagaland	184	Rs 5,13,85,868 5 Crore+
3	Tripura	259	Rs 86,37,800 86 Lacs+
Total		818	Rs 4,14,15,546 4 Crore+

Table: State Wise Average Assets Candidates

Other Background Details

Overall Educational Details: 320(39%) candidates have declared their educational qualification to be between 5^th to 12^th pass, while 479(59%) candidates are graduates or have higher degrees. 13 candidates are Diploma holders. 4 candidates have declared themselves to be just literate and 2 candidates are Illiterates.

Overall Age Details: 216(26%) candidates have declared their age to be between 25 to 40 years while 469 (57%) candidates have declared their age to be between 41 to 60 years. There are 131(16%) candidates who have declared their age to be between 61 to 80 years and 2 candidates have declared they are more than 80 years old.