Lok Sabha Elections 2024: 360 candidates in fourth phase have criminal cases, many have rape cases

Voting for the fourth phase of Lok Sabha Elections (2024) will be held on May 13. In this phase, voting will be held on 96 seats in 10 states. More than 1710 candidates are in the fray in this phase. Of these, 360 candidates have given information about criminal cases against them. Association for Democratic Reform (ADR), a non-governmental organization working for electoral reforms, has released these figures on the basis of the affidavit given by the candidates at the time of nomination. .

In the fourth phase, elections will be held in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Jammu and Kashmir. Out of total 1710 candidates in this round, 1540 are male and 170 are female candidates.

According to ADR, 274 candidates of the fourth phase have informed that serious criminal cases have been registered against them. According to ADR, 85 candidates from Telangana have serious criminal cases registered against them in this phase. Apart from these, 69 candidates from Andhra Pradesh, 53 from Maharashtra and 30 from Uttar Pradesh have serious criminal cases registered against them. The affidavits of seven candidates have not been analyzed due to them not being clear. Of these, four are from Andhra Pradesh, two from Maharashtra and One is from Telangana.

The organization says that 58 percent of the 96 parliamentary constituencies in this phase are sensitive. In these areas, three or more candidates have given information about having criminal cases registered against them.

According to the ADR report, 17 candidates of the fourth phase have been convicted. There are cases of murder registered against 11 candidates and cases of attempt to murder are registered against 30 candidates. And 50 candidates have cases registered against them for crimes against women. Apart from these, rape cases are registered against five candidates.

If these candidates are seen on the basis of political parties, then three out of three from AIMIM, two out of three from Shiv Sena, 10 out of 17 from Bharat Rashtra Samiti, 35 out of 61 from Congress, 40 out of 70 from BJP, DTP Nine out of 17 from BJD, two out of four from RJD, two out of four from Shiv Sena (Uddhav Bala Saheb Thackeray), 12 out of 25 from YSRCP, three out of eight from TMC and one from Samajwadi Party. Seven out of 19 candidates have informed about having criminal cases registered against them.

If we talk about the educational qualification of the candidates, then out of these 1710 candidates, only 26 are illiterate. The number of educated candidates is 30. Apart from these, fifth pass 69, eighth pass 93, tenth pass 234, 12th pass 248, graduate 348, professional graduate 195, post graduate 356, doctorate 45, diploma 66.