Press Release : Bihar Assembly Elections 2020 Phase I : Analysis of Criminal Background, Financial, Education, Gender and other Details of Candidates

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Oct 20, 2020, 3:38:18 AM10/20/20

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Press Release

20th October, 2020

Dear Friends,

The Bihar Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) have analysed the self-sworn affidavits of 1064 out of 1066 candidates, who are contesting in the Bihar Assembly Elections Phase I.

The full reports in English and Hindi can be accessed here: https://adrindia.org/content/bihar-assembly-elections-2020-%E2%80%93-phase-i-analysis-criminal-background-financial-education

BEW and ADR have not analysed 2 candidates as their affidavits were either badly scanned or complete affidavits were not uploaded on the ECI website.

The details of these candidates is given below:

S.No	Name	District	Constituency	Party
1	Fulena Singh	Lakhisarai	Lakhisarai	IND
2	Prahlad Yadav	Lakhisarai	Suryagarha	RJD

Table: List of Candidates not analysed

Summary and Highlights

Criminal Background

Candidates with Criminal Cases: Out of 1064 candidates analyzed, 328 (31%) candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves.
Candidates with Serious Criminal Cases: 244(23%) have declared serious criminal cases against themselves.

Figure: Party Wise Candidates with Criminal Cases

Party wise Candidates with Criminal Cases: Among the major parties, 30(73%) out of 41 candidates analysed from RJD, 21(72%) out of 29 candidates analysed from BJP, 24 (59%) out of 41 candidates analysed from LJP, 12 (57%) out of 21 candidates analysed from INC, 15 (43%) out of 35 candidates analysed from JD(U) and 8 (31%) out of 26 candidates analysed from BSP have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.
Party wise Candidates with Serious Criminal Cases: Among the major parties, 22(54%) out of 41 candidates analysed from RJD, 20(49%) out of 41 candidates analysed from LJP, 13(45%) out of 29 candidates analysed from BJP, 9(43%) out of 21 candidates analysed from INC, 10(29%) out of 35 candidates analysed from JD(U) and 5(19%) out of 26 candidates analysed from BSP have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.
Candidates with declared cases related to crime against women: 29 candidates have declared cases related to crime against women. Out of 29 candidates 3 candidates have declared cases related to rape (IPC Section-375 and 376).
Candidates with declared cases related to murder: 21 candidates have declared cases related to murder (IPC Section-302) against themselves.
Candidates with declared cases related to attempt to murder: 62 candidates have declared cases related to Attempt to murder (IPC Section-307) against themselves.
Red Alert Constituencies*: 61(86%) out of 71 constituencies are Red alert constituencies. Red alert constituencies are those where 3 or more contesting candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves.
The directions of the Supreme Court have had no effect on the political parties in selection of candidates as they have again followed their old practice of giving tickets to around 31% candidates with criminal cases. All major parties contesting in Bihar phase I elections have given tickets to 31 % to 70% candidates who have declared criminal cases against themselves. 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. Therefore, such unfounded and baseless reasons given by political parties like popularity of the person, does good social work, cases are politically motivated etc 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.

Financial Background

Figure: Share of Wealth among the Contesting Candidates

Share of wealth among candidates: The share of wealth amongst the candidates contesting in the Bihar assembly elections 2020 phase I is as follows:

Value of assets (Rs.)	Number of candidates	Percentage of Candidates
5 cr and above	93	9%
2 crores to 5 crores	123	12%
50 lakhs to 2 crores	301	28%
10 lakhs to 50 lakhs	315	30%
less than 10 lakhs	232	22%

Table: Share of wealth amongst contesting candidates

Crorepati Candidates: Out of the 1064 candidates, 375(35%) are crorepatis.
Party wise Crorepati Candidates: Among the major parties 39(95%) out of 41 candidates analysed from RJD, 31(89%) out of 35 candidates analysed from JDU, 24(83%) out of 29 candidates analysed from BJP, 30(73%) out of 41 candidates analysed from LJP, 14(67%) out of 21 candidates analysed from INC and 12(46%) out of 26 candidates from BSP have declared assets worth more than Rs. 1 crore.

Figure: Party Wise Percentage of Crorepati Candidates

Average assets: The average of assets per candidate contesting in the Bihar Assembly Elections 2020 Phase I is Rs 1.99 Crores.
Party wise average assets: Among major parties, the average assets per candidate for 35 JD(U) candidates analysed is Rs. 8.12 crores, 41 RJD candidates analysed is Rs 6.98 crores, 21 INC candidates have average assets of Rs 6.03 crores, 41 LJP candidates have average assets of Rs 4.62 crores, 29 BJP candidates have average assets of Rs 3.10 crores and 26 BSP candidates have average assets worth Rs. 1.36 crore.
High asset candidates: The details of top 3 candidates with highest declared assets, contesting in the Bihar Assembly Elections Phase I are given below:

S.No.	Name	District	Constituency	Party Name	Movable Assets (Rs)	Immovable Assets (Rs)	Total Assets (Rs)	PAN Given
1	Anant Kumar Singh	Patna	Mokama	RJD	18,49,28,795	50,07,50,000	68,56,78,795 68 Crore+	Y
2	Gajanand Shahi	Sheikhpura	Barbigha	INC	97,50,000	60,26,00,000	61,23,50,000 61 Crore+	Y
3	Manorma Devi	Gaya	Atri	JD(U)	5,62,46,000	45,00,00,000	50,62,46,000 50 Crore+	Y

Table: Top three candidates with highest declared assets

Zero assets candidates: There are 5 candidates who have declared zero assets. The details of these candidates is given below:

S.No.	Name	District	Constituency	Party	Total Assets (Rs)	PAN Given
1	Kapiladeo Mandal	Munger	Jamalpur	IND	0	N
2	Ashok Kumar	Patna	Mokama	Jagrook Janta Party	0	Y
3	Prabhu Singh	Kaimur (Bhabua)	Chainpur	Rashtriya Swatantra Party	0	Y
4	Gopal Nishad	Aurangabad	Nabinagar	NCP	0	Y
5	Mahaveer Manjhi	Gaya	Bodh Gaya (Sc)	Bhartiya Insan Party	0	Y

Table: Candidates with declared zero assets

Low assets candidates: The details of three candidates with lowest assets (excluding zero assets candidates) are as follows:

S.No.	Name	District	Constituency	Party	Movable Assets (Rs)	Immovable Assets (Rs)	Total Assets (Rs)	PAN Given
1	Rinku Kumar	Gaya	Gaya Town	Log Jan Party - Secular	2,700	0	2,700 2 Thou+	Y
2	Shailesh Rahi	Aurangabad	Kutumba (Sc)	Akhil Hind Forward Bloc (Krantikari)	9,000^*	0	9,000 9 Thou+	N
3	Lal Dhari Singh	Rohtas	Kargahar	IND	10,000	0	10,000 10 Thou+	Y

Table: Candidates with declared lowest assets

Candidates with high liabilities: 453(43%) candidates have declared liabilities in their affidavits. The details of top three candidates with highest liabilities are given below:

S.No.	Name	District	Constituency	Party	Total Assets(Rs)	Liabilities (Rs)	PAN Given
1	Anant Kumar Singh	Patna	Mokama	RJD	68,56,78,795 68 Crore+	17,15,83,625 17 Crore+	Y
2	Shambhu Nath Yadav	Buxar	Brahampur	RJD	7,59,60,884 7 Crore+	13,49,50,000 13 Crore+	Y
3	Dadan Yadav	Buxar	Dumraon	IND	2,59,53,000 2 Crore+	11,36,55,000 11 Crore+	Y

Table: Top three candidates with highest liabilities

Candidates with high income as declared in the ITR*: The details of top 3 candidates with high income declared in ITR are given below:

S.No.	Name	Party	Constituency	District	Total Asset (Rs)	Self-Source of Income	Spouse's Source of Income	The financial year for which the last income tax return has been filed by candidate	Total income shown by candidate in ITR (Self+Spouse+Dependent) (Rs)	Self-income shown by candidate in ITR (Rs)
1	Kiran Devi	RJD	Sandesh	Bhojpur	17,58,53,453 17 Crore+	Milk Dairy, Animal Husbandry, Agriculture	Agriculture & Animal Husbandry	2020-2021	3,27,28,948 3 Crore+	1,02,17,390 1 Crore+
2	Rakesh Ranjan	IND	Paliganj	Patna	29,58,96,656 29 Crore+	Income From Partnership Firm	Income From Partnership Firm & House property /Interest Income	2018-2019	2,96,13,000 2 Crore+	64,07,744 64 Lacs+
3	Kaushal Kumar Singh	Rashtriya Lok Samta Party	Banka	Banka	17,27,24,346 17 Crore+	Director 1) Kaushal Kanchan Construction Pvt. Ltd, 2) Aastha Foundation Pvt. Ltd. 3) Kirtika Homes Pvt. Ltd. 4) Estate Realtors Pvt. Ltd. 5) Aastha Infrareal Pvt. Ltd. and Partner of 1) Kamini Kaushal Construction and 2) Kushal Jyoti Associates	Director of 1) Kaushal Kanchan Construction Pvt. Ltd., 2) Aastha Foundation Pvt. Ltd. 3) Kirtika Homes Pvt. Ltd 4) Estate Realtors Pvt. Ltd., 5) Aastha Infrareal Pvt. ltd. and Partner of 1) Kamini Kaushal Construction and 2) Kushal Jyoti Associates	2020-2021	2,96,10,925 2 Crore+	2,12,05,707 2 Crore+

Table: Top 3 candidates with highest income as declared in ITR

Candidates with high Assets who have not declared Income Tax Details*: 5 candidates with assets worth more than Rs. 95 lakhs have not declared Income Tax details. The details of these 5 candidates with highest assets who have not declared their IT returns are as given below:

S.No.	Name	District	Constituency	Party	Movable Assets (Rs)	Immovable Assets (Rs)	Total Assets (Rs)	PAN Given	Self-Income
1	Bawan Yadav	Nawada	Nawada	IND	5,20,000	6,50,00,000	6,55,20,000 6 Crore+	N	ITR not filed
2	Doctor Vinay Kumar	Patna	Mokama	IND	2,40,000^*	3,30,00,000	3,32,40,000 3 Crore+	N	ITR not filed
3	Suman Devi	Kaimur (Bhabua)	Mohania (Sc)	Rashtriya Lok Samta Party	69,45,000	2,15,00,000	2,84,45,000 2 Crore+	N	ITR not filed
4	Gouttam Ojha	Bhojpur	Shahpur	IND	1,75,000	1,58,00,000	1,59,75,000 1 Crore+	N	ITR not filed
5	Akhileshwar Bhagat	Lakhisarai	Suryagarha	Bahujan Maha Party	13,91,000	85,00,000	98,91,000 98 Lacs+	N	ITR not filed

Table: Top 5 candidates with highest assets who have not declared ITR details

* Some candidates may be exempted from filing Income Tax Returns

Undeclared PAN: A total of 116(11%) candidates have not declared their PAN details.

Other Background Details

Education details of candidates: 455 (43%) candidates have declared their educational qualification to be between 5^th and 12^thstandard while 522 (49%) candidates have declared having an educational qualification of graduate or above. 74 candidates are literate. There are 5 candidates who are Illiterate and 7 candidates are Diploma holders. One candidate namly Bindu Vikash Atal of Jagrook Janta Party from Bodh Gaya constituency has not declared his education details in the affidavit.
Age details of candidates: 403(38%) candidates have declared their age to be between 25 to 40 years while 548 (52%) candidates have declared their age to be between 41 to 60 years. There are 112(11%) candidates who have declared their age to be between 61 to 80 years. 1 candidate has declared his age 82 years.
Gender details of candidates: 114(11%) female candidates are contesting in the Bihar assembly election 2020 Phase I.

Recommendations of ADR:

To remedy the existing problem of criminalization is to immediately act upon the plausible solutions offered by various committees, civil society and citizens. Supreme Court of India being the ultimate custodian of “Justice and Rule of Law” should reprimand political parties and politicians for their complete lack of will, reprehensible predilection and absence of required laws.
Permanent disqualification of candidates convicted for heinous crimes like murder, rape, smuggling, dacoity, kidnapping etc.
Disqualification of persons from contesting elections to the public offices against whom charges have been framed for having committed serious criminal offences punishable by imprisonment of at least 5 years, and the case is filed at least 6 months prior to the election in question.
Cancellation of tax exemptions given to the political parties who field such tainted candidates.
Bringing political parties under the Right to Information Act.
De-register and de-recognise any political party if it knowingly puts up a candidate with a tainted background.
Political Party should annually file the information on criminal antecedents of their Office Bearers and make such records available to the public, including NIL records.
Disqualification of candidates furnishing false information in the election affidavit (Form 26).
Ensure trial of cases in which the politicians are accused to be concluded in a time bound manner.
Implementation of SC judgment dated 23^rd September, 2013 (i.e provision of NOTA buttons on the EVMs) in its letter and spirit by ensuring a) if NOTA gets more votes than any of the candidates, none of the candidates should be declared elected, and a fresh election should be held; b) in the fresh election, none of the candidates in the earlier election, in which NOTA got the highest number of votes, should be allowed to contest.