Bihar polls: Candidate analysis of 10 years

Bihar is ready for polling and parties are busy finalising their list of candidates.

Bihar has seen some very high voltage politics over the years and this time around too the scenario will be no different.

As the parties finalise their list of candidates after all the seat sharing negotiations have ended, it would be interesting to see how Bihar has fielded candidates over the past ten years.

A report of the Association for Democratic Reforms gives a fair idea of how the election scenario in Bihar has been since the past ten years. This report will deal with the election scenario in Bihar from the year 2004 onwards.

Bihar report

• The total number of candidates analyzed is 5314 candidates who have contested either Parliamentary, State assembly elections and/or Legislative Council elections since 2004.

• Total number of MPs/MLAs analyzed: A total of 620 MPs/MLAs who have either held seats since 2004 either in Parliamentary or State assembly elections since 2004 have been analyzed by ADR and BEW.

• Candidates with criminal cases: A total of 1717 out of these 5314 (32%) candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves.

• Candidates with serious criminal cases: 1041 (20%) out of the 5314 candidates analyzed have declared serious criminal cases against themselves.

• MPs/MLAs with criminal cases: Out of 620 MPs/MLAs analyzed since 2004, 321 or 52% have declared criminal cases against themselves and 187 or 30% have serious criminal charges.

• Average assets of candidates who have contested elections: The average assets of all 5314 candidates analyzed since 2004 is Rs. 1.13 crore.

• Average assets of MPs/MLAs: The average assets of all MPs/MLAs analyzed since 2004 is Rs. 2.46 crores.

• Party wise analysis of all candidates analyzed since 2004:

• Party wise candidates who have declared criminal cases: 133 (41%) out of 327 candidates who contested on INC tickets since 2004 have declared criminal cases against themselves. 148 (54%) out of 275 candidates on BJP tickets since 2004, 173 (46%) out of 379 JD(U) candidates, 206 (51%) out of 404 RJD candidates, 132 (46%) out of 285 LJP candidates and 329 (22%) out of 1512 IND candidates have declared criminal cases.

• Party wise candidates who have declared serious criminal cases: 70 (21%) out of 327 candidates who contested on INC tickets since 2004 have declared serious criminal cases against themselves. 72 (26%) out of 275 candidates on BJP tickets since 2004, 108 (28%) out of 379 JD(U) candidates, 119 (29%) out of 404 RJD candidates, 81 (28%) out of 285 LJP candidates and 202 (13%) out of 1512 IND candidates have declared serious criminal cases.

• Party wise MPs/MLAs who have declared criminal cases: 10 (45%) out of 22 MPs/MLAs elected on INC tickets since 2004 have declared criminal cases against themselves. 110 (58%) out of 190 MPs/MLAs elected on BJP tickets since 2004, 103 (43%) out of 238 JD(U) MPs/MLAs, 54 (51%) out of 105 RJD MPs/MLAs, 15 (79%) out of 19 LJP MPs/MLAs and 14 (74%) out of 19 IND MPs/MLAs have declared criminal cases.

• Party wise MPs/MLAs who have declared serious criminal cases: 6 (27%) out of 22 MPs/MLAs elected on INC tickets since 2004 have declared serious criminal cases against themselves. 52 (27%) out of 190 MPs/MLAs elected on BJP tickets since 2004, 64 (27%) out of 238 JD(U) MPs/MLAs, 34 (32%) out of 105 RJD MPs/MLAs, 12 (63%) out of 19 LJP MPs/MLAs and 8 (42%) out of 19 IND MPs/MLAs have declared serious criminal cases.

• Party wise average assets of candidates: The average assets of 327 candidates who have contested on INC tickets since 2004 is Rs. 1.51 crores. 275 BJP candidates have an average asset of 5.51 crores, 379 JD(U) candidates with average assets of Rs. 5.50 crores, 404 RJD candidates with average assets of Rs. 94.66 lakhs, 285 LJP candidates with average assets of Rs. 50.99 lakhs while 1512 IND candidates had average assets of 35.75 lakhs.

• Party wise average assets of MPs/MLAs: The average assets of 22 MPs/MLAs who have contested on INC tickets since 2004 is Rs. 3.10 crores. 190 BJP MPs/MLAs have an average asset of 2.36 crores, 238 JD(U) MPs/MLAs with average assets of Rs. 3.62 crores, 105 RJD MPs/MLAs with average assets of Rs. 90.02 lakhs, 285 LJP MPs/MLAs with average assets of Rs. 1.07 crores while 19 IND MPs/MLAs had average assets of 60 lakhs.