Press Release: Andhra Pradesh Assembly Elections 2024: Analysis of Criminal Background, Financial, Education, Gender and other Details of Candidates

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May 9, 2024, 3:46:24 AMMay 9

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Press Release

Date: May 09, 2024

Dear Friends,

The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Andhra Pradesh Election Watch have analysed the self-sworn affidavits of 2368 out of 2387 candidates, who are contesting in the Andhra Pradesh 2024 Assembly Elections. Out of 2368 candidates analysed, 340 are from National parties, 388 are from State parties, 667 are from registered unrecognized parties and 973 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-andhra

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	342	340	59	17%	31	9%	101	30%
State Parties	389	388	218	56%	140	36%	307	79%
Registered Unrecognized Party	672	667	109	16%	82	12%	74	11%
Independent	984	973	157	16%	121	12%	122	13%
Total	2387	2368	543	23%	374	16%	604	26%

Table: Party Category Wise Details

Summary and Highlights

Criminal Background

Candidates with Criminal Cases: Out of the 2368 candidates analysed in Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections 2024, 543(23%) candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves. In 2019 Andhra Pradesh Assembly Elections, out of 2007 candidates analysed, 331(17%) had declared criminal cases against themselves.

Candidates with Serious Criminal Cases: 374(16%) have declared serious criminal cases. In 2019 Andhra Pradesh Assembly Elections, 220 (11%) candidates had declared serious criminal cases against themselves.

Figure: Comparative analysis of Candidates with declared Criminal Cases: 2019 vs 2024

Party wise Candidates with Criminal Cases: Among the major parties,87(50%) out of 175 candidates analysed from YSRCP, 119(83%) out of 143 candidates analysed from TDP, 42(27%) out of 158 candidates analysed from INC, 8 (80%) out of 10 candidates analysed from BJP, 5 (63%) out of 8 candidates analysed from CPI(M), 5 (63%) out of 8 candidates analysed from CPI and 10 (48%) out of 21 candidates analysed from Janasena Party have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

Party wise Candidates with Serious Criminal Cases: Among the major parties,49(28%) out of 175 candidates analysed from YSRCP, 85(59%) out of 143 candidates analysed from TDP, 20(13%) out of 158 candidates analysed from INC, 5 (50%) out of 10 candidates analysed from BJP, 3 (38%) out of 8 candidates analysed from CPI(M), 2 (25%) out of 8 candidates analysed from CPI and 7 (33%) out of 21 candidates analysed from Janasena Party have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

Figure: Party Wise Percentage of Candidates with Criminal Cases

Party	Andhra Pradesh Assembly Elections 2019			Andhra Pradesh Assembly Elections 2024
Party	Number of Candidates Analysed	Number of candidates with Declared Criminal Cases	Percentage of candidates with Declared Criminal Cases	Number of Candidates Analysed	Number of candidates with Declared Criminal Cases	Percentage of candidates with Declared Criminal Cases
YSRCP	171	97	57%	175	87	50%
TDP	172	48	28%	158	42	27%
BJP	169	19	11%	10	8	80%
JANASENA PARTY	127	26	20%	21	10	48%
INC	166	23	14%	158	42	27%
CPI	6	4	67%	8	5	63%
CPI(M)	6	4	67%	8	5	63%
Independent	699	69	10%	973	157	16%

Table: Party Wise Candidates with Declared Criminal Cases: 2019 vs 2024

Figure: Party Wise Percentage of Candidates with Declared Criminal Cases: 2019 vs 2024

Candidates with declared cases related to crime against women: 89 candidates have declared cases related to crime against women. Out of 89 candidates 4 candidates have declared cases related to rape (IPC Section-376).

Candidates with declared cases related to murder: 16 candidates have declared cases related to murder (IPC Section-302) against themselves.

Candidates with declared cases related to attempt to murder: 70 candidates have declared cases related to Attempt to murder (IPC Section-307) against themselves.

Red Alert Constituencies*: 104(59%) out of 175 constituencies are red alert constituencies. Red alert constituencies are those where 3 or more contesting candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves. 45 (26%) constituencies in the Andhra Pradesh assembly elections 2019 had 3 or more candidates with declared criminal cases.

The directions of the Supreme Court have had no effect on the political parties in selection of candidates in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly Elections 2024 as they have again followed their old practice of giving tickets to around 23% candidates with criminal cases. All major parties contesting in Andhra Pradesh Assembly Elections 2024 have given tickets from 27 % to 83 % 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. During the recent 5 State Assembly elections held in 2023, 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.

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 Andhra Pradesh assembly elections 2024 is as follows:

Value of assets (Rs.)	Number of candidates	Percentage of Candidates
Rs. 5 crores and above	323	13.6%
Rs. 2 crores to Rs. 5 crores	138	5.8%
Rs. 50 lakhs to Rs. 2 crores	356	15.0%
Rs. 10 lakhs to Rs.50 lakhs	586	24.7%
less than Rs.10 lakhs	965	40.8%

Table: Share of wealth amongst contesting candidates

Crorepati Candidates: Out of the 2368 candidates analysed, 604(26%) are crorepatis. In 2019 Andhra Pradesh Assembly Elections, out of 2007 candidates, 632(32%) were crorepatis.

Figure: Comparative Analysis of Crorepati Candidates: 2019 vs 2024

Party wise Crorepati Candidates: The role of money power in our elections is evident from the fact that all major political parties give tickets to wealthy candidates. Among the major parties 165(94%) out of 175 candidates analysed from YSRCP, 134(94%) out of 143 candidates analysed from TDP, 18(86%) out of 21 candidates analysed from JANASENA PARTY, 8(80%) out of 10 candidates analysed from BJP, 79(50%) out of 158 candidates analysed from INC, 1(13%) out of 8 candidates analysed from CPI and 1(13%) out of 8 candidates analysed from CPI(M) have declared assets valued more than Rs 1 crore.

Figure: Party Wise Percentage of Crorepati Candidates

Party	Andhra Pradesh Assembly Elections 2019			Andhra Pradesh Assembly Elections 2024
Party	Number of Candidates Analysed	Number of Crorepati Candidates	Percentage of Crorepati Candidates	Number of Candidates Analysed	Number of Crorepati Candidates	Percentage of Crorepati Candidates
YSRCP	171	159	93%	175	165	94%
TDP	172	157	91%	143	134	94%
BJP	169	64	38%	10	8	80%
JANASENA PARTY	127	83	65%	21	18	86%
INC	166	60	36%	158	79	50%
CPI	6	3	50%	8	1	13%
CPI(M)	6	2	33%	8	1	13%
Independent	699	60	9%	973	122	13%

Table: Party Wise Crorepati Candidates: 2019 vs 2024

Figure: Party Wise Percentage of Crorepati Candidates: 2019 vs 2024

Average assets: The average of assets per candidate contesting in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly Elections 2024 is Rs 8.02 Crores. In 2019 Andhra Pradesh Assembly Elections, average assets per candidate for 2007 Candidates was Rs. 5.82 Crores.

Party wise average assets: Among major parties, the average assets per candidate for 143 TDP candidates analysed is Rs. 64.46 Crores, 21 Janasena Party candidates analysed is Rs 40.43 Crores, 175 YSRCP candidates have average assets of Rs 38.52 Crores, 10 BJP candidates have average assets of Rs 27.58 Crores, 158 INC candidates have average assets of Rs 3.14 Crore, 8 CPI candidates have average assets of Rs 66.58 Lakhs and 8 CPI(M) have average assets worth Rs 49.18 Lakhs.
High asset candidates: The details of top 3 candidates with highest declared assets, contesting in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly Elections 2024 are given below:

S.No.	Name	District	Constituency	Party	Movable Assets (Rs)	Immovable Assets (Rs)	Total Assets (Rs)	PAN Given
1	Chandrababu Naidu Nara	Chittoor	Kuppam	TDP	8,10,42,29,047	1,21,41,41,609	9,31,83,70,656 931 Crore+	Y
2	Narayana Ponguru	Nellore	Nellore City	TDP	1,79,54,35,404	6,44,53,16,977	8,24,07,52,381 824 Crore+	Y
3	Ys Jagan Mohan Reddy	Kadapa	Pulivendla	YSRCP	6,50,66,76,710	1,06,98,27,071	7,57,65,03,781 757 Crore+	Y

Table: Top three candidates with highest declared assets

Zero assets candidates: There are 34 candidates who have declared zero assets.

Low assets candidates: The details of three candidates with lowest assets (excluding zero assets candidates) are given below:

S.No.	Name	District	Constituency	Party	Movable Assets (Rs)	Immovable Assets (Rs)	Total Assets (Rs)	PAN Given
1	Vaddadi Udayakumar	Visakhapatnam	Pendurthi	IND	1,000	0	1,000 1 Thou+	Y
2	Nandikolla Raju	East Godavari	Mandapeta	Navataram Party	1,000^*	0	1,000 1 Thou+	Y
3	Datti Veeraswami	Srikakulam	Palasa	IND	2,000	0	2,000 2 Thou+	Y

Table: Candidates with declared lowest assets

* On assets value indicates that the candidate has not provided the total in their affidavits, it has been calculated on the basis of details provided by them in the same

Candidates with high liabilities: 1340(57%) 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 Name	Total Assets (Rs)	Liabilities (Rs)	PAN Given
1	Prashanthi Reddy Vemireddy	Nellore	Kovur	TDP	7,16,33,22,265 716 Crore+	1,97,29,62,603 197 Crore+	Y
2	Narayana Ponguru	Nellore	Nellore City	TDP	8,24,07,52,381 824 Crore+	1,90,17,34,019 190 Crore+	Y
3	Vadingadu Munaswamy Thomas	Chittoor	Gangadhara Nellore (SC)	TDP	3,05,76,49,060 305 Crore+	87,07,71,567 87 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 Name	Constituency	District	Total Assets (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	Ys Jagan Mohan Reddy	YSRCP	Pulivendla	Kadapa	7,57,65,03,781 757 Crore+	MLA Salary MP Pension, Rental Income, Other Income (Bank Interest, Dividend etc) and Agricultural Income	Salary, Rental Income, Capital Gains, Other Income (Interest, Dividend etc) and Agricultural Income	2022-2023	73,67,43,340 73 Crore+	57,74,97,600 57 Crore+
2	Bobbala Chinnolla Janardhan Reddy	TDP	Banaganapalle	Kurnool	1,51,91,70,359 151 Crore+	Business, Bank Interest, Pension Income	Salary, Business, Bank Interest	2022-2023	37,91,97,868 37 Crore+	36,60,37,060 36 Crore+
3	Adala Prabhakara Reddy	YSRCP	Nellore Rural	Nellore	3,12,96,98,644 312 Crore+	Business, Rent, capital Gains and Agricultural	Business, Rent, capital Gains and Agricultural	2022-2023	34,52,32,758 34 Crore+	13,78,96,141 13 Crore+

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

Undeclared PAN: A total of 90(4%) candidates have not declared their PAN details.

Other Background Details

Education details of candidates: 1055(45%) candidates have declared their educational qualifications to be between 5^th and 12^thstandard while 1079(46%) candidates have declared having an educational qualification of graduate or above. 120 candidates are Diploma holders. 24 candidates have declared themselves to be just literate and 86 candidates are Illiterates. 4 candidates have not given their educational qualification.

Age details of candidates: 818(35%) candidates have declared their age to be between 25 to 40 years while 1291 (55%) candidates have declared their age to be between 41 to 60 years. There are 255 (11%) candidates who have declared their age to be between 61 to 80 years and 4 candidates have declared they are more than 80 years old.

Gender details of candidates: 229(10%) female candidates are contesting in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly Elections 2024. In 2019 Andhra Pradesh Assembly Elections, 193(10%) out of 2007 candidates analysed were women.

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 parties 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.
Implementation of the 25^th September, 2018 and 13^th February, 2020 SC orders on 'publication of criminal cases against candidates selected by political parties along with reasons for such selection' in its letter and spirit by directing the Election Commission of India a) to list out names of such tainted candidates selected by the political parties along with such reasons for such selection C8 including diligent publication of reasons in newspapers, T.V channels, party website etc, b) strict and constant reminders by ROs to the defaulters, c) list needs to be religiously prepared and submitted to the Supreme Court after every election, d) uploading of this list on ECI’s website for public inspection, e) a suitably heavy financial penalty levied on political parties for making insufficient disclosures, invalid and common reasons, selection of candidates based on winnability and f) Officer in-charge of a political party pertaining to submission of a compliance report should also be held accountable for such a breach.
The Election Commission of India and all State Election Commissions should make it mandatory in all elections; Parliamentary, Assembly and Local Body elections to carry display boards outside each and every polling booth showing a summarised version of candidates’ affidavits. The polling booths should essentially display details of candidate’s criminal records, assets and liabilities and education qualification.
The Election Commission of India under its ‘Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation’ (SVEEP) as well as through other national campaigns on voter awareness held before every election should inform and aware the voters that (i) taking and giving cash or gifts/freebies for votes is a criminal offense, (ii) such instances should be brought to the notice of the ECI through its web application, (iii) inform voters that information on criminal records of candidates is available on the ECI website, outside polling booths and other sources that the ECI may use.
Political parties in India should be required to announce/publish the list of candidates contesting elections at least 3 months prior to elections.
Role of money and muscle power is evident from the fact that all major political parties in Andhra Pradesh Assembly Elections 2024 have fielded 13% to 94% candidates who are crorepatis and 27% to 83 % candidates who have declared criminal cases against themselves. This close and alarming nexus between money power and muscle power has got so ingrained in our electoral system that the citizens are left hostage to the current situation. Money and muscle power hurt the principles of 'free and fair elections', 'participatory democracy' and 'level playing field'. The present circumstances therefore demand an extensive deliberation by the voters so that sanctity of elections is not ridiculed by tenacious entry of tainted candidates and candidates with abnormal multiplication of assets.