Press release: Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Elections 2024: Consolidated Analysis of Criminal Background, Financial, Education, Gender and other details of Candidates - Phase 1 to 3

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Sep 23, 2024, 4:20:06 AM9/23/24

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Press Release

Date: September 23, 2024

Dear Friends,

The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Jammu & Kashmir Election Watch have analysed the self-sworn affidavits of 872 out of 873 candidates, who are contesting in the Jammu & Kashmir 2024 Assembly Elections Phase I to III. Out of 873 contesting candidates, 137 are from National parties, 205 are from State parties, 185 are from registered unrecognized parties and 346 candidates are contesting Independently.

One Independent candidate namely Sarjan Ahmad Wagay contesting from Beerwah constituency has not been analysed due to the unavailability of his clear and complete affidavit on the ECI website at the time of making this report.

The full reports in English and Hindi can be accessed here: https://adrindia.org/content/Analysis-of-Criminal-Financial-and-other-Details-of-Candidates-Jammu-%25252525252526-Kashmir-Assembly-Elections-2024-Phase-%281-3%29

Summary and Highlights

Party Category Wise Details

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	137	137	18	13%	14	10%	90	66%
State Parties	205	205	29	14%	21	10%	115	56%
Registered Unrecognized Party	185	185	41	22%	33	18%	82	44%
Independent	346	345	64	19%	46	13%	123	36%
Total	873	872	152	17%	114	13%	410	47%

Table: Party Category Wise Details

Phase Wise Summary of Candidates

Phase	No. of contesting candidates	No. of Candidates analysed	No. of Constituencies	No. of Candidates with Criminal Cases	% of Candidates with Criminal Cases	No. of Candidates with Serious Criminal Cases	% of Candidates with Serious Criminal Cases	No. of Crorepati Candidates	% of Crorepati Candidates	Average Assets (Rs. In crores)	Date of Poll
1	219	219	24	36	16%	25	11%	110	50%	3.00	18^th September, 2024
2	239	238	26	49	21%	37	16%	131	55%	5.8	25^th September, 2024
3	415	415	40	67	16%	52	13%	169	41%	2.76	01^st October, 2024
Total	873	872	90	152	17%	114	13%	410	47%	3.65	-

Table: Phase wise summary of candidates

Criminal Background

Candidates with Criminal Cases: Out of the 872 candidates analysed in Jammu & Kashmir Assembly elections 2024, 152(17%) candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves. In the 2014 Jammu & Kashmir Assembly Elections, out of 831 candidates analysed, 49(6%) had declared criminal cases against themselves.

Candidates with Serious Criminal Cases: 114(13%) have declared serious criminal cases. In 2014 Jammu & Kashmir Assembly Elections, 33 (4%) candidates had declared serious criminal cases against themselves.

Figure: Comparative analysis of Candidates with declared Criminal Cases: 2014 vs 2024

Party wise Candidates with Criminal Cases: Among the major parties,8(21%) out of 39 candidates analysed from INC, 12(15%) out of 80 candidates analysed from JKPDP, 7 (13%) out of 56 candidates analysed from JKNC, 1 (4%) out of 28 candidates analysed from BSP, 3 (13%) out of 23 candidates analysed from Democratic Progressive Azad Party and 6 (10%) out of 62 candidates analysed from BJP have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

Party wise Candidates with Serious Criminal Cases: Among the major parties,5(13%) out of 39 candidates analysed from INC, 9(11%) out of 80 candidates analysed from JKPDP, 6(11%) out of 56 candidates analysed from JKNC, 1 (4%) out of 28 candidates analysed from BSP, 3 (13%) out of 23 candidates analysed from Democratic Progressive Azad Party and 5 (8%) out of 62 candidates analysed from BJP have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

Figure: Party Wise Percentage of Candidates with Criminal Cases

Party	Jammu & Kashmir Assembly 2014			Jammu & Kashmir Assembly 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
BJP	75	4	5%	62	6	10%
INC	86	9	10%	39	8	21%
JKNC	85	5	6%	56	7	13%
JKPDP	84	5	6%	80	12	15%
Independent	274	14	5%	345	64	19%

Table: Party Wise Candidates with Declared Criminal Cases: 2014 vs 2024

Figure: Party Wise Percentage of Candidates with Declared Criminal Cases: 2014 vs 2024

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: 15 candidates have declared cases related to crime against women. Out of 15 candidates 3 candidates have declared charges related to rape (IPC Section-376).

Red Alert Constituencies*: 24(27%) out of 90 constituencies are red alert constituencies. Red alert constituencies are those where 3 or more contesting candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves. 3 (3%) out of 87 constituencies in the Jammu & Kashmir assembly elections 2014 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 Jammu & Kashmir Assembly Elections 2024 as they have again followed their old practice of giving tickets to around 17% candidates with criminal cases. All major parties contesting in Jammu & Kashmir elections have given tickets from 4% to 21% candidates who have declared criminal cases against themselves. The Supreme Court in its directions dated 13^th 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 2024, 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 Jammu & Kashmir assembly elections 2024 is as follows:

Value of assets (Rs.)	Number of candidates	Percentage of Candidates
Rs. 10 crores and above	65	8%
Rs. 5 crores to Rs. 10 crores	90	10%
Rs. 1 crore to Rs. 5 crores	255	29%
Rs. 20 lakhs to Rs. 1 crore	213	24%
less than Rs. 20 lakhs	249	29%

Table: Share of wealth amongst contesting candidates

Crorepati Candidates: Out of the 872 candidates analysed, 410(47%) are crorepatis. In 2014 Jammu & Kashmir Assembly Elections, out of 831 candidates, 317(38%) were crorepatis.

Figure: Comparative Analysis of Crorepati Candidates: 2014 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 50(89%) out of 56 candidates analysed from JKNC, 33(85%) out of 39 candidates analysed from INC, 46(74%) out of 62 candidates analysed from BJP, 49(61%) out of 80 candidates analysed from JKPDP, 16(70%) out of 23 candidates analysed from Democratic Progressive Azad Party and 9(32%) out of 28 candidates analysed from BSP have declared assets valued more than Rs 1 crore.

Figure: Party Wise Percentage of Crorepati Candidates

Party	Jammu & Kashmir Assembly 2014			Jammu & Kashmir Assembly 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
BJP	75	36	48%	62	46	74%
INC	86	48	56%	39	33	85%
JKNC	85	60	71%	56	50	89%
JKPDP	84	58	69%	80	49	61%
Independent	274	73	27%	345	123	36%

Table: Party Wise Crorepati Candidates: 2014 vs 2024

Figure: Party Wise Percentage of Crorepati Candidates: 2014 vs 2024

Average assets: The average of assets per candidate contesting in the Jammu & Kashmir Assembly Elections 2024 is Rs 3.65 Crore. In 2014 Jammu & Kashmir Assembly Elections, average assets per candidate for 831 Candidates was Rs. 1.93 crore.

Party wise average assets: Among major parties, the average assets per candidate for 62 BJP candidates analysed is Rs. 9.13 Crores, 56 JKNC candidates analysed is Rs 8.26 Crores, 39 INC candidates have average assets of Rs 8.08 Crores, 80 JKPDP candidates have average assets of Rs 5.27 Crores and 28 BSP candidates have average assets worth Rs. 1.59 Crores.

High asset candidates: The details of top 3 candidates with highest declared assets, contesting in the Jammu & Kashmir Assembly Elections 2024 are given below:

S.No.	Name	District	Constituency	Party Name	Movable Assets (Rs)	Immovable Assets (Rs)	Total Assets (Rs)	PAN Given
1	Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari	Srinagar	Channapora	Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party	1,01,68,32,411	63,72,68,363	1,65,41,00,774 165 Crore+	Y
2	Tariq Hameed Karra	Srinagar	Central Shalteng	INC	44,17,570	1,48,00,00,000	1,48,44,17,570 148 Crore+	Y
3	Devender Singh Rana	Jammu	Nagrota	BJP	28,12,42,167	98,69,22,413	1,26,81,64,580 126 Crore+	Y

Table: Top three candidates with highest declared assets

Zero assets candidates: There are 6 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	Vishal Kumar	Jammu	Bishnah (SC)	IND	0	0	0	Y
2	Asif D.M	Jammu	Jammu East	IND	0	0	0	Y
3	Raj Kumar Lalotra	Jammu	Jammu West	IND	0	0	0	Y
4	Sudesh Kumar	Kathua	Kathua (SC)	Jammu & Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party	0	0	0	Y
5	Shahid Hussain Mir	Kupwara	Handwara	IND	0	0	0	Y
6	Zahid Mushtaq Sheikh	Kupwara	Handwara	IND	0	0	0	Y

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	Mohd Akram S/O Khadam Hussain	Poonch	Surankote (ST)	IND	500	0	500 5 Hund+	Y
2	Ravinder Raina	Rajouri	Nowshera	BJP	1,000	0	1,000 1 Thou+	Y
3	Sameer Ahmed Bhat	Srinagar	Central Shalteng	National Republic Party Of India	1,694^*	0	1,694 1 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: 501(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	Masood Ahmed	Poonch	Poonch Haveli	IND	38,27,52,161 38 Crore+	10,26,05,070 10 Crore+	Y
2	Randhir Singh	Rajouri	Kalakote - Sunderbani	BJP	26,62,04,000 26 Crore+	9,30,99,000 9 Crore+	Y
3	Zaffer Habib Dar	Srinagar	Central Shalteng	Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party	2,79,92,782 2 Crore+	8,08,51,430 8 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	Devender Singh Rana	BJP	Nagrota	Jammu	1,26,81,64,580 126 Crore+	Income From Business/ Rent, Salary	Income From Business	2023-2024	7,99,73,419 7 Crore+	1,17,10,120 1 Crore+
2	Kuldeep Raj Dubey	BJP	Reasi	Reasi	59,02,21,000 59 Crore+	Business	Business	2022-2023	2,24,52,790 2 Crore+	2,01,76,250 2 Crore+
3	Payare Lal Sharma	IND	Inderwal	Kishtwar	8,16,89,000 8 Crore+	Construction Works	NA	2023-2024	97,25,440 97 Lacs+	97,25,440 97 Lacs+

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

Undeclared PAN: A total of 10(1%) candidates have not declared their PAN details.

Other Background Details

Education details of candidates: 407(47%) candidates have declared their educational qualifications to be between 5^th and 12^thstandard while 436(50%) candidates have declared having an educational qualification of graduate or above. 15 candidates are Diploma holders. 1 candidate has declared himself to be just literate and 13 candidates are Illiterates.

Age details of candidates: 287(33%) candidates have declared their age to be between 25 to 40 years while 411 (47%) candidates have declared their age to be between 41 to 60 years. There are 174 (20%) candidates who have declared their age to be between 61 to 80 years.

Gender details of candidates: 43(5%) female candidates are contesting in the Jammu & Kashmir Assembly Elections 2024. In 2014 Jammu & Kashmir Assembly Elections, 29(3%) out of 831 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 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 Jammu & Kashmir Assembly Elections 2024 have fielded 32% to 89% candidates who are crorepatis and 4% to 21 % 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.