Haryana Elections: 13% Candidates Face Criminal Cases, 52% Are Crorepatis

The Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) has published a detailed report on candidates for the upcoming Haryana Assembly elections. This analysis covers aspects such as criminal history, education, gender, and financial status. A total of 1,031 candidates are vying for seats from various national and state parties, as well as independent contenders.

Criminal Background of Candidates

The ADR report highlights that 133 out of 1,028 candidates have declared criminal cases against them. Among these, 95 face serious charges. This is an increase from the 2019 elections when 117 candidates reported similar issues. The report also notes that some political parties have ignored the Supreme Court's directive to avoid selecting candidates with criminal backgrounds.

A breakdown by party shows Congress with 17 candidates (19 per cent) having criminal cases, BJP with six (7 per cent), Aam Aadmi Party with 23 (26 per cent), Jannayak Janta Party with seven (11 per cent), INLD with nine (18 per cent), and BSP with three (9 per cent). Notably, 11 candidates face charges related to crimes against women, and six are accused of murder.

Financial Status of Candidates

Financially, over half of the analysed candidates are crorepatis. Specifically, 538 out of 1,028 have declared assets exceeding Rs 1 crore. The BJP leads this category with 85 affluent candidates (96 per cent), followed closely by Congress with 84 (94 per cent). The Aam Aadmi Party has fielded 52 wealthy individuals, Jannayak Janta Party has 46, BSP has 35, and INLD has 34.

Capt Abhimanyu from the BJP is the wealthiest candidate in this election, declaring assets worth over Rs 491 crore. He is followed by Rohtas Singh from Congress with assets exceeding Rs 484 crore and independent candidate Savitri Jindal with more than Rs 270 crore.

Educational Qualifications

In terms of education, nearly half of the candidates hold graduate-level degrees or higher. Specifically, there are 492 graduates or postgraduates among them. Meanwhile, another significant portion—486 individuals—have educational qualifications ranging from Class 5 to Class 12. Additionally, there are reports of 15 illiterate candidates.

Age Distribution and Gender Representation

The age distribution among the candidates shows that a majority fall within the middle-aged bracket. Specifically, there are 319 individuals aged between 25 to 40 years and another group of 528 aged between 41 to 60 years. Furthermore, there are also older participants; about 181 candidates have declared their ages to be between 61 and 80 years.

Gender representation remains low but shows a slight improvement compared to previous elections. Only about ten per cent of the candidates are women—100 female contestants out of the total pool. In comparison to the last election in which there were only nine per cent female participants among the analysed group.

Polling for Haryana's Assembly elections is set for October 5.