15 pc in fray face criminal charges: ADR

138 candidates from State have criminal cases as per their affidavits

CHENNAI: An analysis of the affidavits of 945 of 950 candidates in the fray for the Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu has revealed that 15 per cent (138) of them are facing criminal cases with all candidates of the CPM, CPI and AMMK having cases pending against them.

Congress’s 7 out of 9 candidates and BJP’s 16 of 23 have declared criminal cases pending against them, revealed a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), which has analysed the self-sworn affidavits of candidates.

Nearly 59 per cent of the DMK candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves while the PMK’s six out of the 10 candidates have cases pending against them. As many as 34 per cent of the AIADMK which is contesting in the 34 seats has declared criminal cases. As per the report, nine per cent of all the contesting candidates have declared serious criminal cases against them. Nine of the 23 BJP candidates have serious criminal cases pending against them followed by six candidates each of DMK, AIADMK and Naam Tamilar Katchi.

202 are crorepatis

In terms of the candidates who declared assets worth more than Rs 1 crore, 202 out of the 945 candidates declared assets worth more than Rs 1 crore. Among the major political parties contesting the polls, NTK which is contesting in all the LS seats has nominated only 38 per cent crorepati candidates or 15 out of the 39 nominees are crorepatis. AIADMK has nominated 33 crorepati candidates (97 per cent) while the DMK and BJP have nominated 95 per cent and 96 per cent crorepati candidates respectively.

The average assets of the BJP candidates stand at Rs 38.93 crore, while the AIADMK candidates have assets of Rs 37.53 crore. The ruling DMK’s candidates have an average asset of Rs 31.22 crore. While the Left parties and VCK candidates have average assets worth Rs 1 crore, the NTK candidates have average assets worth Rs 2 crore.