Uttarakhand Assembly Elections 2022: Analysis of Criminal Background, Financial, Education, Gender and other Details of Candidates

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Feb 7, 2022, 2:30:07 AM2/7/22

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Press Release

7th February, 2022

Dear Friends,

The Uttarakhand Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) have analysed the self-sworn affidavits of 626 candidates out of 632, who are contesting in the Uttarakhand Assembly Elections 2022.

The full reports in English and Hindi can be accessed here: https://adrindia.org/content/uttarakhand-assembly-elections-2022analysis-criminal-background-financial-education-gender

Uttarakhand Election Watch and ADR have not analysed 6 candidates as their affidavits were either badly scanned or complete affidavits were not uploaded on the ECI website. The details of these candidates are given below:

S.No.	Name	District	Constituency	Party
1	Basant Kumar	Bageshwar	Bageshwar (Sc)	AAP
2	Virendra Singh Rawat	Pauri Garhwal	Chaubattakhal	Uttarakhand Kranti Dal(P)
3	Mohd Naseer	Dehradun	Dharampur	Bharatiya Samajwadi party (Loktantrik)
4	Rajendra Singh Negi	Dehradun	Dharampur	Sainik Samaj Party
5	Sanjay Mall	Dehradun	Mussoorie	SP
6	Billu	Dehradun	Rajpur Road (Sc)	UKD

Table: List of Candidates not analysed

Summary and Highlights

Criminal Background

Candidates with Criminal Cases: Out of 626 candidates analyzed, 107 (17%) candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves. In 2017 Uttarakhand Assembly Elections, out of 637 candidates analysed, 91(14%) had declared criminal cases against themselves.

Candidates with Serious Criminal Cases: 61(10%) have declared serious criminal cases against themselves. In 2017 Uttarakhand Assembly Elections, 54 (8%) candidates had declared serious criminal cases against themselves.

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

Party wise Candidates with Criminal Cases: Among the major parties, 23(33%) out of 70 candidates analysed from INC, 13(19%) out of 70 candidates analysed from BJP, 15 (22%) out of 69 candidates analysed from AAP, 10 (19%) out of 54 candidates analysed from BSP and 7 (17%) out of 42 candidates analysed from UKD have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

Figure: Party Wise Candidates with Criminal Cases

Party wise Candidates with Serious Criminal Cases: Among the major parties, 11(16%) out of 70 candidates analysed from INC, 8(11%) out of 70 candidates analysed from BJP, 9 (13%) out of 69 candidates analysed from AAP, 6 (11%) out of 54 candidates analysed from BSP and 4 (10%) out of 42 candidates analysed from UKD have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

Candidates with declared cases related to crime against women: 6 candidates have declared cases related to crime against women. Out of 6 candidates 1 candidate has declared case related to person committing rape repeatedly on the same woman (IPC Section- 376(2)(n)).

Candidates with declared cases related to murder: 1 candidate has declared cases related to murder (IPC Section-302) against himself.

Candidates with declared cases related to attempt to murder: 3 candidates have declared cases related to Attempt to murder (IPC Section-307) against themselves.

Red Alert Constituencies*: 13(19%) out of 70 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 the Uttarakhand Assembly Elections 2022 as they have again followed their old practice of giving tickets to around 17% candidates with criminal cases. All major parties contesting in Uttarakhand elections have given tickets to 17 % to 33 % 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 2020-21, 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 Uttarakhand assembly elections 2022 is as follows:

Value of assets (Rs.)	Number of candidates	Percentage of Candidates
5 crores and above	69	11%
2 crores to 5 crores	98	16%
50 lakhs to 2 crores	176	28%
10 lakhs to 50 lakhs	151	24%
less than 10 lakhs	132	21%

Table: Share of wealth amongst contesting candidates

Crorepati Candidates: Out of the 626 candidates, 252(40%) are crorepatis. In 2017 Uttarakhand Assembly Elections, out of 637 candidates, 200 (31%) were crorepatis.

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 60(86%) out of 70 candidates analysed from BJP, 56(80%) out of 70 candidates analysed from INC, 31(45%) out of 69 candidates analysed from AAP, 18(33%) out of 54 candidates analysed from BSP and 12(29%) out of 42 candidates analysed from UKD have declared assets valued more than Rs 1 crore.

Figure: Party Wise Percentage of Crorepati Candidates

Average assets: The average of assets per candidate contesting in the Uttarakhand Assembly Elections 2022 is Rs 2.74 Crores. In 2017 Uttarakhand Assembly Elections, average assets per candidate for 637 candidates was Rs.1.57 crores.

Party wise average assets: Among major parties, the average assets per candidate for 70 INC candidates analysed is Rs. 6.93 Crores, 70 BJP candidates analysed is Rs 6.56 Crores, 69 AAP candidates have average assets of Rs 2.95 Crores, 42 UKD candidates have average assets of Rs 2.79 Crores and 54 BSP candidates have average assets worth Rs. 2.23 Crores.

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

S.No.	Name	District	Constituency	Party Name	Movable Assets (Rs)	Immovable Assets (Rs)	Total Assets (Rs)	PAN Given
1	Antriksh Saini	Haridwar	Laksar	INC	29,90,89,427	94,00,00,000	1,23,90,89,427 123 Crore+	Y
2	Satpal Maharaj	Pauri Garhwal	Chaubattakhal	BJP	6,96,97,620	80,37,15,699	87,34,13,319 87 Crore+	Y
3	Mohan Kala	Pauri Garhwal	Srinagar	UKD	6,27,08,200	76,25,00,000	82,52,08,200 82 Crore+	Y

Table: Top three candidates with highest declared assets

Zero assets candidates: One Independent candidate namely Moh Mursleen Qureshi from B.H.E.L. Ranipur constituency has declared zero assets in his self sworn affidavit.

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

S.No.	Name	District	Constituency	Party Name	Movable Assets (Rs)	Immovable Assets (Rs)	Total Assets (Rs)	PAN Given
1	Sandeep Kumar	Pauri Garhwal	Srinagar	SUCI(C)	1,000	0	1,000 1 Thou+	N
2	Nisar Khan	Champawat	Lohaghat	SP	1,500	0	1,500 1 Thou+	N
3	Akash Negi	Pauri Garhwal	Kotdwar	Right to Recall Party	4,548^*	0	4,548 4 Thou+	Y

Table: Candidates with declared lowest assets

Candidates with high liabilities: 321(51%) 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	Antriksh Saini	Haridwar	Laksar	INC	1,23,90,89,427 123 Crore+	68,55,67,214 68 Crore+	Y
2	Trilok Singh Cheema	Udham Singh Nagar	Kashipur	BJP	44,15,46,441 44 Crore+	9,20,57,899 9 Crore+	Y
3	Mohd Yoonus Chaudhari	Udham Singh Nagar	Jaspur	AAP	6,56,97,707 6 Crore+	5,59,00,312 5 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	Rajesh Shukla	BJP	Kichha	Udham Singh Nagar	28,36,35,978 28 Crore+	Agriculture, Rent Income	Business	2020-2021	3,99,18,544 3 Crore+	3,94,92,026 3 Crore+
2	Khushal Singh Adhikari	INC	Lohaghat	Champawat	30,50,17,339 30 Crore+	Business	House Wife	2021-2022	2,53,05,870 2 Crore+	2,53,05,870 2 Crore+
3	Trilok Singh Cheema	BJP	Kashipur	Udham Singh Nagar	44,15,46,441 44 Crore+	Agriculture, Business, Salary & House Rent	Salary & House Rent	2020-2021	2,38,27,260 2 Crore+	1,94,07,650 1 Crore+

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

Undeclared PAN: A total of 23(4%) candidates have not declared their PAN details.

Other Background Details

Education details of candidates: 244(39%) candidates have declared their educational qualifications to be between 5^th and 12^thstandard while 344 (55%) candidates have declared having an educational qualification of graduate or above. 7 candidates are Diploma holders. 26 candidates have declared themselves to be just literate and 3 candidates are Illiterates. 2 candidates have not given their educational qualification.

Age details of candidates: 167(27%) candidates have declared their age to be between 25 to 40 years while 356 (57%) candidates have declared their age to be between 41 to 60 years. There are 101(16%) candidates who have declared their age to be between 61 to 80 years and 2 candidates have declared they are more than 80 years old.

Gender details of candidates: 62(10%) female candidates are contesting in the Uttarakhand assembly election 2022. In 2017 Uttarakhand Assembly Elections, 56(9%) out of 637 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 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.

Role of money and muscle power is evident from the fact that all major political parties in Uttarakhand assembly elections 2022 have fielded 80% to 86% candidates who are crorepatis and 17% to 33 % 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. 18 % of the population of Uttarakhand is already below the poverty line as per the NFHS 2015-16 report of NITI Aayog published in 2021. 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.

The Association for Democratic Reforms, in collaboration with Mr Gaurav Bakshi (actor and founder of www.HelpdesQ.in, a Goa-based legal start-up geared towards rooting out corruption in public life), is running #CleanUpGoaPolls, an online petition campaign on Change.org, urging the Election Commission of India to make it mandatory for the candidates accused of rape, murder, rioting and other serious offences to add the label “CRIMINAL RECORD” in big bold letters in all their publicity materials while campaigning. The petition has been signed by over 10,000 people and is rapidly growing. (Petition Links: English, Konkani Devnagri, Konkani Romi)

Contact Details

Uttarakhand Election Watch

Mr. BP Maithani

Coordinator
+91-9012878346
maith...@yahoo.com

Mr. Manoj Dhyani

Coordinator

+91-9756201936

+91-9412145589

rtinewsin...@gmail.com

Association for Democratic Reforms/National Election Watch

Media and Journalist Helpline

+91 80103 94248