Press Release: Telangana Assembly Elections 2023 : Analysis of Criminal Background, Financial, Education, Gender and other Details of Candidates

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Press Release

Date: November 25, 2023

Dear Friends,

The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Telangana Election Watch have analysed the self-sworn affidavits of all 2290 candidates, who are contesting in the Telangana 2023 Assembly Elections. Out of 2290 candidates analysed, 355 are from National parties, 175 are from State parties, 771 are from registered unrecognized parties and 989 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-33

Party	Total Contesting 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	355	216	61%	148	42%	241	68%
State Parties	175	75	43%	45	26%	141	81%
Registered Unrecognized Party	771	92	12%	70	9%	74	10%
Independent	989	138	14%	90	9%	124	13%
Total	2290	521	23%	353	15%	580	25%

Table: Party Category Wise Details

Summary and Highlights

Criminal Background

Candidates with Criminal Cases: Out of the 2290 candidates analysed in Telangana Assembly elections 2023, 521(23%) candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves. In the 2018 Telangana Assembly Elections, out of 1777 candidates analysed, 368(21%) had declared criminal cases against themselves.

Candidates with Serious Criminal Cases: 353(15%) have declared serious criminal cases. In 2018 Telangana Assembly Elections, 231 (13%) candidates had declared serious criminal cases against themselves.

Figure: Comparative analysis of Candidates with declared Criminal Cases: 2018 vs 2023

Party wise Candidates with Criminal Cases: Among the major parties,85(72%) out of 118 candidates analysed from INC, 79(71%) out of 111 candidates analysed from BJP, 57(48%) out of 119 candidates analysed from BRS, 40 (37%) out of 107 candidates analysed from BSP, 12 (63%) out of 19 candidates analysed from CPI(M), 10 (24%) out of 41 candidates analysed from All India Forward Bloc and 5 (56%) out of 9 candidates analysed from All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

Party wise Candidates with Serious Criminal Cases: Among the major parties,60(51%) out of 118 candidates analysed from INC, 54(49%) out of 111 candidates analysed from BJP, 34(29%) out of 119 candidates analysed from BRS, 28 (26%) out of 107 candidates analysed from BSP, 6 (32%) out of 19 candidates analysed from CPI(M), 7 (17%) out of 41 candidates analysed from All India Forward Bloc and 3 (33%) out of 9 candidates analysed from All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

Figure: Party Wise Percentage of Candidates with Criminal Cases

Party	Telangana Assembly Elections 2018			Telangana Assembly Elections 2023
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
BRS	119	65	55%	119	57	48%
INC	99	69	70%	118	85	72%
BSP	100	27	27%	107	40	37%
BJP	118	44	37%	111	79	71%
All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen	8	6	75%	9	5	56%
All India Forward Bloc	19	4	21%	41	10	24%
CPI(M)	25	13	52%	19	12	63%
Independent	652	56	9%	989	138	14%

Table: Party Wise Candidates with Declared Criminal Cases: 2018 vs 2023

Figure: Party Wise Percentage of Candidates with Declared Criminal Cases: 2018 vs 2023

Candidates with declared cases related to crime against women: 45 candidates have declared cases related to crime against women. Out of 45 candidates 3 candidates have declared cases related to rape (IPC Section-376).

Candidates with declared cases related to murder: 7 candidates have declared cases related to murder (IPC Section-302) against themselves.

Candidates with declared cases related to attempt to murder: 27 candidates have declared cases related to Attempt to murder (IPC Section-307) against themselves.

Red Alert Constituencies*: 96(81%) out of 119 constituencies are red alert constituencies. Red alert constituencies are those where 3 or more contesting candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves. 78 (66%) constituencies in the Telangana assembly elections 2018 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 Telangana Assembly Elections 2023 as they have again followed their old practice of giving tickets to around 23% candidates with criminal cases. All major parties contesting in Telangana elections have given tickets from 24 % to 72 % 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 4 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 Telangana assembly elections 2023 is as follows:

Value of assets (Rs.)	Number of candidates	Percentage of Candidates
5 crores and above	270	11.79%
2 crores to 5 crores	150	6.55%
50 lakhs to 2 crores	381	16.64%
10 lakhs to 50 lakhs	539	23.54%
less than 10 lakhs	950	41.48%

Table: Share of wealth amongst contesting candidates

Crorepati Candidates: Out of the 2290 candidates analysed, 580(25%) are crorepatis. In 2018 Telangana Assembly Elections, out of 1777 candidates, 438(25%) were crorepatis.

Figure: Comparative Analysis of Crorepati Candidates: 2018 Vs 2023

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 114(96%) out of 119 candidates analysed from BRS, 111(94%) out of 118 candidates analysed from INC, 93(84%) out of 111 candidates analysed from BJP, 30(28%) out of 107 candidates analysed from BSP, 7(37%) out of 19 candidates analysed from CPI(M), 18(44%) out of 41 candidates analysed from All India Forward Bloc and 8(89%) out of 9 candidates analysed from All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen have declared assets valued more than Rs 1 crore.

Figure: Party Wise Percentage of Crorepati Candidates

Party	Telangana Assembly Elections 2018			Telangana Assembly Elections 2023
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
BRS	119	107	90%	119	114	96%
INC	99	79	80%	118	111	94%
BSP	100	26	26%	107	30	28%
BJP	118	86	73%	111	93	84%
All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen	8	5	63%	9	8	89%
All India Forward Bloc	19	7	37%	41	18	44%
CPI(M)	25	1	4%	19	7	37%
Independent	652	62	10%	989	124	13%

Table: Party Wise Crorepati Candidates: 2018 vs 2023

Figure: Party Wise Percentage of Crorepati Candidates: 2018 vs 2023

Average assets: The average of assets per candidate contesting in the Telangana Assembly Elections 2023 is Rs 4.71 Crores. In 2018 Telangana Assembly Elections, average assets per candidate for 1777 Candidates was Rs. 3.29 Crores.

Party wise average assets: Among major parties, the average assets per candidate for 119 BRS candidates analysed is Rs. 25.62 Crores, 118 INC candidates analysed is Rs 38 Crores, 111 BJP candidates have average assets of Rs 16.15 Crores, 107 BSP candidates have average assets of Rs 2.02 Crores, 19 CPI(M) candidates have average assets of Rs 1.01 Crore, 41 All India Forward Bloc candidates have average assets of Rs 2.94 Crores and 9 All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen have average assets worth Rs 10.46 Crores.

High asset candidates: The details of top 3 candidates with highest declared assets, contesting in the Telangana Assembly Elections 2023 are given below:

S.No.	Name	District	Constituency	Party Name	Movable Assets (Rs)	Immovable Assets (Rs)	Total Assets (Rs)	PAN Given
1	Gaddam Vivekanand	Mancherial	Chennur (SC)	INC	3,80,76,38,171	2,25,91,48,700	6,06,67,86,871 606 Crore+	Y
2	Komatireddy Raj Gopal Reddy	Nalgonda	Munugode	INC	3,01,55,35,078	1,56,84,04,037	4,58,39,39,115 458 Crore+	Y
3	Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy	Khammam	Palair	INC	3,96,99,99,485	36,93,35,395	4,33,93,34,880 433 Crore+	Y

Table: Top three candidates with highest declared assets

Zero assets candidates: There are 25 candidates who have declared zero assets. The details of these candidates are given below:

S.No.	Name	District	Constituency	Party Name	Movable Assets (Rs)	Immovable Assets (Rs)	Total Assets (Rs)	PAN Given
1	Kolagani Suresh	Hanumakonda	Parkal	IND	0	0	0	Y
2	Kaja.Poorna Chander	Hyderabad	Musheerabad	Indian Praja Congress	0	0	0	Y
3	Mohammed Osman	Hyderabad	Goshamahal	IND	0	0	0	N
4	B. Kiran Kumar	Hyderabad	Secunderabad Cantt. (SC)	IND	0	0	0	Y
5	Mallaiah Marapelli	Jayashankar Bhupalpally	Bhupalpalle	CPI(ML)(L)	0	0	0	Y
6	Siripalli Rajaiah	Jayashankar Bhupalpally	Bhupalpalle	IND	0	0	0	Y
7	Ramachandraiah Jangam	Khammam	Madhira (SC)	IND	0	0	0	N
8	Noonavath Veeru	Khammam	Wyra (ST)	CPI(ML)(L)	0	0	0	N
9	Prasad Babu Narapogu	Khammam	Sathupalle (SC)	Mana Telangana Rashtra Samaikya Party	0	0	0	Y
10	Ravi Kumar Vankudothu	Mahabubabad	Dornakal (ST)	Telangana Jaghir Party	0	0	0	Y
11	Ambala Mahendar	Mancherial	Bellampalli (SC)	IND	0	0	0	Y
12	M. Krishna	Mancherial	Mancherial	IND	0	0	0	N
13	Maddila Venkateshwarlu	Mulugu	Mulug (ST)	IND	0	0	0	N
14	Talari Balavardhan	Nagarkurnool	Kollapur	IND	0	0	0	Y
15	Konda Mahender	Peddapalli	Manthani	Aabaad Party	0	0	0	Y
16	Pendyala Surender	Peddapalli	Peddapalle	IND	0	0	0	Y
17	Prathap Simha Raidu. J (Chinna Raidu)	Rangareddy	Ibrahimpatnam	Telangana Jaghir Party	0	0	0	Y
18	Pareekshith Reddy	Rangareddy	Ibrahimpatnam	IND	0	0	0	Y
19	Kathula Yadaiah	Rangareddy	Maheswaram	IND	0	0	0	Y
20	K Raghavendar	Rangareddy	Shadnagar	IND	0	0	0	N
21	Pothuraju Vijay	Suryapet	Huzurnagar	IND	0	0	0	Y
22	Gangireddy Kotireddy	Suryapet	Kodad	IND	0	0	0	N
23	Thandu Upendar	Suryapet	Kodad	IND	0	0	0	N
24	Jangam Laxmi Narsamma	Vikarabad	Vicarabad (SC)	IND	0	0	0	N
25	M. Krishna	Yadadri Bhuvanagiri	Alair	IND	0	0	0	N

Table: Candidates with 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 Name	Movable Assets (Rs)	Immovable Assets (Rs)	Total Assets (Rs)	PAN Given
1	Maddileti	Jogulamba Gadwal	Alampur (SC)	All India Samata Party	500^*	0	500 5 Hund+	Y
2	Mahendar Bhukya	Mahabubabad	Dornakal (ST)	Bharatha Chaitanya Yuvajana Party	500	0	500 5 Hund+	Y
3	Vanguri Jayashanker	Nagarkurnool	Nagarkurnool	Bahujan Republican Socialist Party	500^*	0	500 5 Hund+	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: 1185(52%) 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	Pailla Shekar Reddy	Yadadri Bhuvanagiri	Bhongir	BRS	2,27,51,86,867 227 Crore+	1,12,75,13,860 112 Crore+	Y
2	Ashannagari Jeevan Reddy	Nizamabad	Armur	BRS	22,95,78,708 22 Crore+	50,73,56,437 50 Crore+	Y
3	Danam Nagender	Hyderabad	Khairatabad	BRS	68,89,15,252 68 Crore+	49,55,30,000 49 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 Name	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	Komatireddy Raj Gopal Reddy	INC	Munugode	Nalgonda	4,58,39,39,115 458 Crore+	Business Income & Rentals from Commercial Property	Business Income & Rentals	2022-2023	71,18,73,201 71 Crore+	71,17,45,439 71 Crore+
2	Sunil Kumar Muthyala	INC	Balkonda	Nizamabad	1,04,13,19,139 104 Crore+	Business	Agriculture and Others	2022-2023	29,13,36,503 29 Crore+	29,07,00,163 29 Crore+
3	Gaddam Vivekanand	INC	Chennur (SC)	Mancherial	6,06,67,86,871 606 Crore+	Dividend, Agricultural, Interest	Salary, Dividend, Interest, Commission	2022-2023	15,86,92,450 15 Crore+	6,26,23,880 6 Crore+

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

Undeclared PAN: A total of 84(4%) candidates have not declared their PAN details.

Other Background Details

Education details of candidates: 979(43%) candidates have declared their educational qualifications to be between 5^th and 12^thstandard while 1143(50%) candidates have declared having an educational qualification of graduate or above. 53 candidates are Diploma holders. 26 candidates have declared themselves to be just literate and 89 candidates are Illiterates.

Age details of candidates: 1027(45%) candidates have declared their age to be between 25 to 40 years while 1062 (46%) candidates have declared their age to be between 41 to 60 years. There are 200 (9%) candidates who have declared their age to be between 61 to 80 years and 1 candidate has declared his age 84 years old.

Gender details of candidates: 222(10%) female candidates are contesting in the Telangana Assembly Elections 2023. In 2018 Telangana Assembly Elections, 136(8%) out of 1777 candidates analysed were women.

Party wise Gender Details

S.No.	Party Name	Total candidates analyzed	Men	Women	% of Women candidates	Third Gender
1	BRS	119	111	8	7%	0
2	INC	118	106	12	10%	0
3	BJP	111	98	13	12%	0
4	BSP	107	98	9	8%	0
5	CPI(M)	19	17	2	11%	0
6	Independent	989	902	87	9%	0
7	Jai Maha Bharath Party	13	0	13	100%	0
8	Dharma Samaj Party	101	91	10	10%	0
9	All India Forward Bloc	41	40	1	2%	0
10	Janasena Party	8	7	1	13%	0
11	Rashtra Samanya Praja Party	4	3	0	0%	1
12	Other Parties	660	594	66	10%	0
Total		2290	2067	222	10%	1

Table: Party Wise analysis of candidates on the basis of gender

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 fields 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 Telangana Assembly Elections 2023 have fielded 28% to 96% candidates who are crorepatis and 24% to 72 % 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.