Press Release: Gujarat Assembly Elections 2022 Phase I: Analysis of Criminal Background, Financial, Education, Gender and other Details of Candidates

[ADR India]

Press Release

24th November, 2022

Dear Friends,

The Gujarat Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) have analysed the self-sworn affidavits of All 788 candidates who are contesting in the Gujarat Assembly Elections Phase I.

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

Summary and Highlights

Criminal Background

• Candidates with Criminal Cases: Out of 788 candidates analyzed, 167 (21%) candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves. In 2017 Gujarat Assembly Elections Phase 1, out of 923 candidates analysed, 137(15%) had declared criminal cases against themselves.

• Candidates with Serious Criminal Cases: 100(13%) have declared serious criminal cases against themselves. In 2017 Gujarat Assembly Elections phase 1, 78(8%) candidates had declared serious criminal cases against themselves. 

Figure: Comparative analysis of Candidates with declared Criminal Cases: 2017 Phase 1 vs 2022 Phase 1

• Party wise Candidates with Criminal Cases: Among the major parties, 32(36%) out of 88 candidates analysed from AAP, 31(35%) out of 89 candidates analysed from INC, 14 (16%) out of 89 candidates analysed from BJP and 4 (29%) out of 14 candidates analysed from Bhartiya Tribal Party have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

Figure: Party Wise Percentage with Criminal Cases

Party	2017 Phase 1			2022 Phase 1
	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
INC	86	31	36%	89	31	35%
BJP	89	22	25%	89	14	16%
BHARTIYA TRIBAL PARTY	3	2	67%	14	4	29%

Table: Party Wise Candidates with Declared Criminal Cases: 2017 Phase 1 vs 2022 Phase 1

Figure: Party Wise Candidates with Declared Criminal Cases: 2017 Phase 1 vs 2022 Phase 1

• Party wise Candidates with Serious Criminal Cases:  Among the major parties, 26(30%) out of 88 candidates analysed from AAP, 18(20%) out of 89 candidates analysed from INC, 11 (12%) out of 89 candidates analysed from BJP and 1 (7%) out of 14 candidates analysed from Bhartiya Tribal Party have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

• Candidates with declared cases related to crime against women: 9 candidates have declared cases related to crime against women.

• Candidates with declared cases related to murder: 3 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.

• Red Alert Constituencies*: 25(28%) out of 89 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 in Phase 1 of the Gujarat Assembly Elections as they have again followed their old practice of giving tickets to around 21% candidates with criminal cases.  All major parties contesting in Gujarat phase I elections have given tickets to 16 % to 36 % 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 6 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.

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 Gujarat assembly elections 2022 phase I is as follows:

Value of assets (Rs.)	Number of candidates	Percentage of Candidates
5 crores and above	73	9%
2 crores to 5 crores	77	10%
50 lakhs to 2 crores	125	16%
10 lakhs to 50 lakhs	170	22%
less than 10 lakhs	343	43%

Table: Share of wealth amongst contesting candidates

• Crorepati Candidates: Out of the 788 candidates, 211(27%) are crorepatis. In 2017 Gujarat Assembly Elections phase 1, out of 923 candidates, 198 (21%) were crorepatis.

Figure: Comparative Analysis of Crorepati Candidates: 2017 Phase 1 vs 2022 Phase 1

• 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 79(89%) out of 89 candidates analysed from BJP, 65(73%) out of 89 candidates analysed from INC and 33(38%) out of 88 candidates analysed from AAP have declared assets valued more than Rs 1 crore.

Figure: Party Wise Percentage of Crorepati Candidates

Party	2017 Phase 1			2022 Phase 1
	Number of Candidates Analysed	Number of Crorepati Candidates	Percentage  of Crorepati Candidates	Number of Candidates Analysed	Number of Crorepati Candidates	Percentage  of Crorepati Candidates
INC	86	60	70%	89	65	73%
BJP	89	76	85%	89	79	89%
BHARTIYA TRIBAL PARTY	3	2	67%	14	0	0%

Table: Party Wise Crorepati Candidates: 2017 Phase 1 vs 2022 Phase 1

Figure: Party Wise Percentage of Crorepati Candidates: 2017 Phase 1 vs 2022 Phase 1

• Average assets: The average of assets per candidate contesting in the Gujarat Assembly Elections 2022 Phase I is Rs 2.88 Crores. In 2017 Gujarat Assembly Elections Phase 1, average assets per candidate for 923 candidates was Rs.2.16 crores.

• Party wise average assets: Among major parties, the average assets per candidate for 89 BJP candidates analysed is Rs. 13.40 Crores, 89 INC candidates analysed is Rs 8.38 Crores, 88 AAP candidates have average assets of Rs 1.99 Crore and 14 Bhartiya Tribal Party candidates have average assets worth Rs 23.39 Lakhs.

• High asset candidates: The details of top 3 candidates with highest declared assets, contesting in the Gujarat Assembly Elections Phase I are given below:

S.No.	Name	District	Constituency	Party	Movable Assets (Rs)	Immovable Assets (Rs)	Total Assets (Rs)	PAN Given
1	Rameshbhai Virjibhai Tilala	Rajkot	Rajkot South	BJP	19,35,43,705	1,56,43,56,000	1,75,78,99,705  175 Crore+	Y
2	Indranil Rajguru	Rajkot	Rajkot East	INC	66,85,23,710	96,07,65,514	1,62,92,89,224  162 Crore+	Y
3	Jawaharbhai Pethaljibhai Chavda	Jamnagar	Manavadar	BJP	25,49,52,835	1,04,66,27,576	1,30,15,80,411  130 Crore+	Y

Table: Top three candidates with highest declared assets

• Zero assets candidates: One Independent candidate namely Bhupendra Bhavanbhai Patoliya from Rajkot West constituency has declared zero assets in the affidavit.

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

S.No.	Name	District	Constituency	Party	Movable Assets (Rs)	Immovable Assets (Rs)	Total Assets (Rs)	PAN Given
1	Rakeshbhai Sureshbhai Gamit	Tapi	Vyara (St)	BSP	1,000	0	1,000  1 Thou+	Y
2	Jayaben Mehulbhai Boricha	Bhavnagar	Bhavnagar West	IND	3,000	0	3,000  3 Thou+	Y
3	Samir Fakruddin Shaikh	Surat	Surat East	IND	6,500	0	6,500  6 Thou+	Y

Table: Candidates with declared lowest assets

• Candidates with high liabilities: 386(49%) 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	Indranil Rajguru	Rajkot	Rajkot East	INC	1,62,92,89,224  162 Crore+	76,02,44,890  76 Crore+	Y
2	Bhachubhai Dharamshi Aarethiya	Kachchh	Rapar	INC	97,48,74,784  97 Crore+	30,75,01,712  30 Crore+	Y
3	Jagmalbhai Jadavbhai Vala	Gir Somnath	Somnath	AAP	25,90,64,900  25 Crore+	22,19,38,858  22 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	Rivasinh Hardevsinh Solanki (Rivaba Ravindrasinh Jadeja)	BJP	Jamnagar North	Jamnagar	97,35,59,222   97 Crore+	Business	Business, Rent & Intrest	2021-2022	18,74,73,687   18 Crore+	6,20,022   6 Lacs+
2	Pabubha Virambha Manek	BJP	Dwarka	Devbhumi Dwarka	1,15,58,97,789   115 Crore+	Business, Business Income - Shipping And Other Income	Rent Income And Income	2021-2022	5,61,95,573   5 Crore+	5,48,22,395   5 Crore+
3	Kanubhai Mohanlal Desai	BJP	Pardi	Valsad	10,93,51,751   10 Crore+	Income From Retired Employee, Farming	Pension And Saving Income	2021-2022	2,61,19,644   2 Crore+	2,50,92,063   2 Crore+

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

• Undeclared PAN:  A total of 37(5%) candidates have not declared their PAN details. 

Other Background Details

• Education details of candidates: 492(62%) candidates have declared their educational qualifications to be between 5^th and 12^th standard while 185 (23%) candidates have declared having an educational qualification of graduate or above. 21 candidates are Diploma holders. 53 candidates have declared themselves to be just literate and 37 candidates are illiterate.

• Age details of candidates: 277(35%) candidates have declared their age to be between 25 to 40 years while 431 (55%) candidates have declared their age to be between 41 to 60 years.  There are 79(10%) candidates who have declared their age to be between 61 to 80 years and 1 candidate has declared he is more than 80 years old.

• Gender details of candidates: 69(9%) female candidates are contesting in the Gujarat assembly election 2022 Phase I. In 2017 Gujarat Assembly Elections Phase 1, 57(6%) out of 923 candidates analysed were women.

Party wise Gender Details

S.No.	Party Name	Total number of candidates analyzed	Men	Women	% of Women candidates
1	Independent	339	305	34	10%
2	INC	89	83	6	7%
3	BJP	89	80	9	10%
4	AAP	88	82	6	7%
5	BSP	57	50	7	12%
6	Rashtriya Samaj Paksha	5	4	1	20%
7	Log Party	5	3	2	40%
8	Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Party	2	0	2	100%
9	Sanyukt Vikas Party	1	0	1	100%
10	JD(S)	1	0	1	100%
11	Others	112	112	0	0%
Total		788	719	69	9%

Table: Party wise Gender Details

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. The 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.
• 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.
• The role of money and muscle power is evident from the fact that all major political parties in Gujarat phase 1 elections have fielded 38% to 89% candidates who are crorepatis and 16% to 36 % 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.

Contact Details

Gujarat Election Watch

 

Ms Pankti Jog State Coordinator +91-9909006791 magpg...@gmail.com

 

 

Association for Democratic Reforms/National Election Watch

 

Media and Journalist Helpline   +91 80103 94248 Email: a...@adrindia.org

Maj.Gen. Anil Verma (Retd) Head Association for Democratic Reforms, National Election Watch 011 4165 4200, +91 88264 79910 a...@adrindia.org, anil...@adrindia.org

Prof Jagdeep Chhokar IIM Ahmedabad (Retd.) Founder Member, Association for Democratic Reforms, National Election Watch jchh...@gmail.com

Prof Trilochan Sastry IIM Bangalore Founder Member, Association for Democratic Reforms, National Election Watch +91 94483 53285 tsa...@gmail.com

 

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