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

2 views

Skip to first unread message

ADR India

unread,

Nov 9, 2023, 1:39:40 AM11/9/23

to national-el...@googlegroups.com, national...@googlegroups.com

Press Release

Date: November 09, 2023

Dear Friends,

The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Madhya Pradesh Election Watch have analysed the self-sworn affidavits of all 2534 candidates, who are contesting in the Madhya Pradesh 2023 Assembly Elections. Out of 2534 candidates analysed, 711 are from National parties, 103 are from State parties, 553 are from registered unrecognized parties and 1167 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-madhya

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	711	235	33%	119	17%	490	69%
State Parties	103	29	28%	19	18%	27	26%
Registered Unrecognized Party	553	74	13%	55	10%	61	11%
Independent	1167	134	11%	98	8%	149	13%
Total	2534	472	19%	291	11%	727	29%

Table: Party Category Wise Details

Summary and Highlights

Criminal Background

Candidates with Criminal Cases: Out of the 2534 candidates analysed in Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections 2023, 472(19%) candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves. In 2018 Madhya Pradesh Assembly Elections, out of 2716 candidates analysed, 464(17%) had declared criminal cases against themselves.

Candidates with Serious Criminal Cases: 291(11%) have declared serious criminal cases. In 2018 Madhya Pradesh Assembly Elections, 295 (11%) 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,121(53%) out of 230 candidates analysed from INC, 65(28%) out of 230 candidates analysed from BJP, 26 (39%) out of 66 candidates analysed from AAP and 22 (12%) out of 181 candidates analysed from BSP have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

Party wise Candidates with Serious Criminal Cases: Among the major parties,61(27%) out of 230 candidates analysed from INC, 23(10%) out of 230 candidates analysed from BJP, 18 (27%) out of 66 candidates analysed from AAP and 16 (9%) out of 181 candidates analysed from BSP have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

Figure: Party Wise Percentage of Candidates with Criminal Cases

Party	Madhya Pradesh Assembly Elections 2018			Madhya Pradesh 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
BJP	220	65	30%	230	65	28%
INC	223	108	48%	230	121	53%
BSP	214	37	17%	181	22	12%
AAP	206	43	21%	66	26	39%
CPI(M)	12	2	17%	4	1	25%
GONDVANA GANTANTRA PARTY	62	8	13%	37	9	24%
SP	48	12	25%	71	23	32%
Independent	1015	91	9%	1167	134	11%

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: 24 candidates have declared cases related to crime against women. Out of 24 candidates 1 candidate has declared case related to rape (IPC Section-376).

Candidates with declared cases related to murder: 10 candidates have declared cases related to murder (IPC Section-302) against themselves.

Candidates with declared cases related to attempt to murder: 17 candidates have declared cases related to Attempt to murder (IPC Section-307) against themselves.

Red Alert Constituencies*: 79(34%) out of 230 constituencies are red alert constituencies. Red alert constituencies are those where 3 or more contesting candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves. 76 (33%) constituencies in the Madhya Pradesh 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 Madhya Pradesh Assembly Elections 2023 as they have again followed their old practice of giving tickets to around 19% candidates with criminal cases. All major parties contesting in Madhya Pradesh elections have given tickets from 12 % to 53 % 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 Madhya Pradesh assembly elections 2023 is as follows:

Value of assets (Rs.)	Number of candidates	Percentage of Candidates
5 crores and above	265	10%
2 crores to 5 crores	250	10%
50 lakhs to 2 crores	506	20%
10 lakhs to 50 lakhs	683	27%
less than 10 lakhs	830	33%

Table: Share of wealth amongst contesting candidates

Crorepati Candidates: Out of the 2534 candidates analysed, 727(29%) are crorepatis. In 2018 Madhya Pradesh Assembly Elections, out of 2716 candidates, 656(24%) 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 200(87%) out of 230 candidates analysed from BJP, 196(85%) out of 230 candidates analysed from INC, 39(59%) out of 66 candidates analysed from AAP and 54(30%) out of 181 candidates analysed from BSP have declared assets valued more than Rs 1 crore.

Figure: Party Wise Percentage of Crorepati Candidates

Party	Madhya Pradesh Assembly Elections 2018			Madhya Pradesh 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
BJP	220	179	81%	230	200	87%
INC	223	173	78%	230	196	85%
BSP	214	52	24%	181	54	30%
AAP	206	38	18%	66	39	59%
CPI(M)	12	1	8%	4	1	25%
GONDVANA GANTANTRA PARTY	62	5	8%	37	11	30%
SP	48	17	35%	71	22	31%
Independent	1015	94	9%	1167	149	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 Madhya Pradesh Assembly Elections 2023 is Rs 2.89 Crores. In 2018 Madhya Pradesh Assembly Elections, average assets per candidate for 2716 Candidates was Rs. 1.73 crores.

Party wise average assets: Among major parties, the average assets per candidate for 230 INC candidates analysed is Rs. 13.69 Crores, 230 BJP candidates analysed is Rs 10.46 Crores, 66 AAP candidates have average assets of Rs 2.76 Crores and 181 BSP have average assets worth Rs 1.96 Crores.

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

S.No.	Name	District	Constituency	Party	Movable Assets (Rs)	Immovable Assets (Rs)	Total Assets (Rs)	PAN Given
1	Chetanya Kasyap	Ratlam	Ratlam City	BJP	8,16,31,000	2,87,92,00,000	2,96,08,31,000 296 Crore+	Y
2	Sanjay Satyendra Pathak	Katni	Vijayraghavgarh	BJP	1,19,14,04,353	1,22,95,24,198	2,42,09,28,551 242 Crore+	Y
3	Sanjay Shukla	Indore	Indore-1	INC	89,89,51,338	1,27,51,74,000	2,17,41,25,338 217 Crore+	Y

Table: Top three candidates with highest declared assets

Zero assets candidates: There are 12 candidates who have declared zero assets. The details of these candidates are given below:

S.No.	Name	District	Constituency	Party	Movable Assets (Rs)	Immovable Assets (Rs)	Total Assets (Rs)	PAN Given
1	Vijay Kumar Patle	Balaghat	Balaghat	JD(U)	0	0	0	N
2	Dhaniram	Balaghat	Balaghat	IND	0	0	0	N
3	Dr. Ramlal Masram	Balaghat	Waraseoni	IND	0	0	0	N
4	Shashi Stella	Jabalpur	Jabalpur Cantt.	IND	0	0	0	Y
5	Gopal Chaudhari	Satna	Satna	IND	0	0	0	Y
6	Ajay Parmar	Sehore	Ashta (SC)	Aazad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram)	0	0	0	Y
7	Aakash	Sehore	Sehore	IND	0	0	0	Y
8	Mohammad Akram Qureshi	Sehore	Sehore	IND	0	0	0	Y
9	Ajay Omkar Singh Baghel	Seoni	Seoni	IND	0	0	0	N
10	Phatebahadur	Shahdol	Jaitpur (ST)	Bhartiya Shakti Chetna Party	0	0	0	N
11	Arun Kumar	Sidhi	Churhat	Vindhya Janta Party	0	0	0	N
12	Bhole Prasad Yadav	Sidhi	Sidhi	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	Movable Assets (Rs)	Immovable Assets (Rs)	Total Assets (Rs)	PAN Given
1	Pramila Verma	Chhindwara	Chhindwara	IND	1,000	0	1,000 1 Thou+	Y
2	Raju Khan	Datia	Datia	IND	1,500^*	0	1,500 1 Thou+	Y
3	Vikram Baiga	Shahdol	Jaitpur (ST)	Vindhya Janta Party	1,800	0	1,800 1 Thou+	Y

Table: Candidates with declared lowest assets

Candidates with high liabilities: 1110(44%) 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	Nilay Vinod Daga	Betul	Betul	INC	1,77,39,27,120 177 Crore+	86,49,47,573 86 Crore+	Y
2	Sanjay Sharma (Sanju Bhaiya)	Narsinghpur	Tendukheda	INC	2,12,52,79,560 212 Crore+	84,34,52,156 84 Crore+	Y
3	Sanjay Shukla	Indore	Indore-1	INC	2,17,41,25,338 217 Crore+	63,90,63,579 63 Crore+	Y

Table: Top three candidates with highest liabilities

#Disputed 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	Sanjay Satyendra Pathak	BJP	Vijayraghavgarh	Katni	2,42,09,28,551 242 Crore+	Business	Business	2022-2023	7,98,86,340 7 Crore+	3,96,00,230 3 Crore+
2	Nilay Vinod Daga	INC	Betul	Betul	1,77,39,27,120 177 Crore+	Business, Salary (MLA), Agriculture, Dividend, Interest etc.	Salary, Agriculture, Dividend, Interest etc.	2022-2023	6,26,96,750 6 Crore+	5,47,13,560 5 Crore+
3	Bhupendra Singh	BJP	Khurai	Sagar	84,51,93,626 84 Crore+	Agriculture, Milk dairy, Moon Marriage Hall	Hotel Deepali, Deepali Place, Deepali Automobile, Petrol Pump	2023-2024	4,05,03,595 4 Crore+	57,89,595 57 Lacs+

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

Undeclared PAN: A total of 216(9%) candidates have not declared their PAN details.

Other Background Details

Education details of candidates: 1233(49%) candidates have declared their educational qualifications to be between 5^th and 12^thstandard while 1105(44%) candidates have declared having an educational qualification of graduate or above. 28 candidates are Diploma holders. 134 candidates have declared themselves to be just literate and 28 candidates are Illiterates. 6 candidates have not given their educational qualification.

Age details of candidates: 952(38%) candidates have declared their age to be between 25 to 40 years while 1252 (49%) candidates have declared their age to be between 41 to 60 years. There are 328 (13%) 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: 253(10%) female candidates are contesting in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly Elections 2023. In 2018 Madhya Pradesh Assembly Elections, 235(9%) out of 2716 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 Madhya Pradesh Assembly Elections 2023 have fielded 30% to 87% candidates who are crorepatis and 12% to 53 % 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.