42 candidates with criminal records (based on 2004 and subsequent affidavits)

March 19, 2009

New Delhi, March 17, 2009: National Election Watch (NEW), a nationwide campaign comprising of more than 1200 NGO and other citizen led organizations working on electoral reforms, improving democracy and governance in India has been monitoring the candidates for 2009 Lok Sabha Election declared by political parties. NEW looked at following lists declared by various political parties and checked the records of these candidates with over 50,000 records that NEW has been accumulating since 2003:
 
– Combined list of BJP declared for 232 seats in 23 states and union territories.
– 54 candidates declared by INC for Tripura, Daman-Diu, Nagaland, Assam, Chandigarh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Arunachal Pradesh and West Bengal.
– 3 candidates declared by BSP for Uttar Pradesh as reported in media (NEW is still trying to get BSP’s official list of candidates for UP)
– 7 candidates for Kerala and 15 candidates for Karnataka declared by BSP
– 19 candidates declared by INC for Gujarat, Chattisgarh and Dadra-Nagar Haveli.
– 59 candidates declared by CPI (M) for 15 states.
– 46 candidates declared by BJP for 4 states,
– 7 declared by BSP for Delhi state and
– 33 declared by CPI for 14 states
 
Till now 507 candidates have been declared by INC, BJP, CPI, CPM, SP and BSP for Lok Sabha elections 2009. NEW has found affidavits of 202 candidates declared by them in earlier elections (Lok Sabha 2004 or various assembly elections since then) with election commission. 42 out of these candidates were found to have criminal records based on earlier affidavits. At least 7 of these candidates have serious charges against them.
 
As declared on Mar 14, 2009, of the combined list of 232 BJP candidates for 23 states and UTs, NEW was able to find affidavits of 76 candidates. Out of this list total 20 candidates were found to have criminal records based on earlier affidavits. The list of all these candidates is attached at the end.
 
On Mar 12, 14 and 15, INC has declared list of 54 candidates for 11 different states and UTs. Out of this NEW has found records of 32 candidates. Out of these 32 candidates 4 were found to have criminal records based on earlier affidavits filed by them with Election Commission. The list of all these candidates is attached at the end.
 
As declared on Mar 10, 2009, of the 15 candidates declared by BSP for Karnataka Lok Sabha Seats, NEW was able to find affidavits for 5 candidates based on their earlier declarations. The affidavits filed by them earlier do not show any cases against them. NEW did not find records for any of the 7 candidates filed by BSP in Kerala. BSP has also declared 7 candidates for Delhi (March 6, 2009), NEW found records for 2, none of which has any criminal records based on earlier affidavits.
 
NEW has tried getting the official list of BSP candidates for UP from the party office, but hasn’t been able to get the list yet. Based on various media reports, it has found 3 candidates which have been declared by BSP to contest elections in UP and have criminal records based on their earlier affidavits. The records of all these people are attached to this press note.
 
For Gujarat, Chattisgarh and Dadra-Nagar Haveli, out of the 19 candidates declared by INC (March 9, 2009), NEW was able to find 14 affidavits filed earlier out of which 2 candidates have criminal charges. This list is also attached with this note.
 
For 59 candidates declared by CPI (M) for 15 states, on March 08, 2009, NEW was able to find affidavits for 27 candidates out of which 2 candidates affidavits had criminal charges mentioned. This list is also attached with this note.
 
For SP, out of the list of 53 declared candidates NEW was able to find affidavits of 24 candidates filed by them in earlier elections and found that 6 of them have criminal background. (As mentioned in the press release by NEW on March 05, 2009).  This list is also attached with the note.
 
for further info do visit: www.nationalelectionwatch.com
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