466 Candidates Have Criminal Cases Against Them; DMK Tops Chart

At least 466 candidates contesting the Tamil Nadu Assembly polls have declared criminal cases against themselves, a report from the Tamil Nadu Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) says.

A total of 3,998 candidates are in the fray for the 234 constituencies in Tamil Nadu.

The ADR and the Tamil Nadu Election Watch have analysed the self-sworn affidavits of 3,559 candidates.

“There are 439 candidates who have not been analysed as either their affidavits were badly scanned or incomplete affidavits were available on the ECI website at the time of making this report,” they said in the report released on Thursday.

The report said that 207 candidates have declared serious criminal cases against themselves.

“Out of 3,559 candidates analysed, 466 (13%) candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves,” the report said, adding eight candidates have declared cases related to crime against women, including one with declared cases related to rape (IPC Section-376).

Out of 234 constituencies going for polls on April 6, 74 (32 percent) are red alert constituencies, where three or more contesting candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves. 76 percent of the DMK candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves

Among the major parties,136 (76 percent) out of 178 candidates analysed from the DMK, 46 (24 percent) out of 191 candidates analysed from the AIADMK, 18 (30 percent) out of 60 candidates analysed from the DMDK, 15 (75 percent) out of 20 candidates analysed from the BJP and 15 (71 percent) out of 21 candidates analysed from the Congress have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

“Ten (44 percent) out of 23 candidates analysed from Pattali Makkal Katchi, three (60 percent) out of five candidates analysed from CPI(M), two (50 percent) out of four candidates analysed from CPI and one (20 percent) out of five candidates analysed from NCP have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits,” it said.

Among those with criminal cases, 50 candidates from the DMK; 18 from the AIADMK, eight candidates from the DMDK, eight from the BJP, six from the Congress and five from Pattali Makkal Katchi have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits, the report added.

“Seven candidates have declared cases related to murder (IPC Section-302) against themselves,” it said, adding 39 candidates have declared cases related to attempt to murder (IPC Section-307) against themselves.

Tamil Nadu will go for polls in one phase on April 6. The results will be declared on May 2.

At least 68 outgoing MLAs have declared criminal cases against themselves

In a separate report released in March, the ADR and the Tamil Nadu Election Watch analysed the criminal background details of 204 out of 234 sitting MLAs. While four seats were vacant, there were 26 MLAs who have not been analysed due to unavailability of their properly scanned and complete affidavits.

“Out of 204 sitting MLAs analysed, 68 (33 percent) MLAs have declared criminal cases against themselves,” the report said, adding 38 (19 percent) MLAs have declared serious criminal cases.

Among these, eight MLAs have declared cases related to attempt to murder (IPC section 307) and two MLAs have declared cases related to crimes against women (IPC Section-354 and 509).

“40 (47 percent) out of 86 MLAs from the DMK, 23 (21 percent) out of 109 MLAs from the AIADMK, four (57 percent) out of seven MLAs from INC and one (100%) Independent MLA have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits,” it added.

Among those with criminal records, 22 from the DMK, 13 from the AIADMK, two from the Congress and one Independent MLA have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.