The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) that rose to power on the promise of being different has now given tickets to a whopping 60% candidates with pending criminal cases, with 51% facing serious criminal cases. The story came to light after a report was published by the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR).
Delhi Election Watch & ADR have analysed the self-sworn affidavits of all 672 candidates from 70 constituencies, who are contesting in the Delhi Assembly Elections.
Full report: https://t.co/loK9vawx6y#DelhiElections2020 pic.twitter.com/GRIZrX9uVF
— ADR India (@adrspeaks) February 1, 2020
A total of 672 candidates have filed their nomination for the Delhi elections to be held on February 8. The report surveyed all candidates across different party lines and found that roughly 20% of them (133 candidates) have criminal cases against them, with the percentage of candidates facing serious cases is 15%.
AAP tops the list with 42 out of 70 candidates, bringing its tally to 60%, while 36 (51%) among them are facing serious charges. Bharatiya Janta Party has fielded 67 candidates, and 26 (39%) among them have declared criminal cases against them, with 17 (25%) facing serious criminal cases. The numbers for 66 candidates of Indian National Congress are 18 (27%) and 13 (20%), and for Bahujan Samaj Party’s 66 candidates, it is 21 (18%) and 10 (15%).
The report also highlights another disturbing trend. There has been an overall increase of 3% in the number of candidates with criminal background from the last Delhi Assembly elections of 2015. In total, 95 political parties are contesting the elections this time as compared to 71 in the year 2015.
The report also analyses assets declared by candidates in their nomination forms. Congress has the highest number of crorepatis, 55 (83%) among 66, followed by AAP’s 51 (73%) and BJP’s 47 (70%). BSP, the only other party contesting a large number of seats (66), have comparatively much less number of crorepatis at 13 (20%).
A total of 148 candidates are contesting independently while 224 candidates are contesting from registered yet unrecognized parties. 90 candidates from State parties and 210 candidates from National parties are also in the line.
The report has come to light at a time when the AAP government in Delhi is under fire for failing to deliver on 75% of its promises. The “clean politics” that Arvind Kejriwal promised while hijacking the Anna Movement is yet to transform into reality.
