Criminalisation of Assam politics has reduced- Report

The criminalisation of Assam politics has reduced considerably. Data would show that the number of candidates with a criminal background has reduced considerably in the battle for the Assam assembly elections of 2016.

Assam Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) have analysed the self-sworn affidavits of 1062 candidates who are contesting in the Assam Assembly Election held in 2 phases on 4th April and on 11th April 2016.

The information of currently contesting candidates is compared against the information of candidates who contested the Assam Assembly Election 2011, to understand the trend of engagement of money and muscle power along with other details of the candidates. Key findings of the analysis are given hereunder.

Criminalisation down:

The criminalization of Assam politics has decreased in the Assam Assembly Election 2016 in comparison to the Assam Assembly Election 2011.

In 2011, a total of 99 candidates with declared criminal record out of 955 candidates (10%) contested the elections, but in Assam Assembly Election 2016 total 72 Candidates out of 1062 candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves (7%).

However, less number of candidates contested in the 2011 Assam Assembly Election with serious criminal record in comparison to the Election of 2016.

Now 57 (5%) candidates with serious criminal record are contesting whereas in 2011, total 37 (4%) candidates with serious criminal record contested.

In 2011, only 13% Crorepati candidates contested, but in 2016, the number of Crorepatis has increased to 22%.