Over half the candidates who won in the Bihar Assembly elections had declared serious criminal cases including cases related to murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping and crimes against women, said an analysis of the affidavits of the winners by the Bihar Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

The self-sworn affidavits of 241 out of the 243 winning candidates show that 163 (68 per cent) winning candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves. “Out of 243 MLAs analysed during Bihar Assembly elections in 2015, 142 (58 per cent) MLAs had declared criminal cases against themselves,” the ADR said in a statement.

Serious cases

Nineteen winners have declared cases related to murder (IPC Section 302)while 31 have declared cases of attempt to murder (IPC Section-307). Eight have declared cases relating to crimes against women.

The ADR statement added that among the major parties, 54 (73 per cent) out of 74 winners from the RJD; 47 (64 per cent) out of 73 from the BJP; 20 (47 per cent) out of 43 from the JD(U); 16 (84 per cent) out of 19 from the Congress; 10 (83 per cent) out of 12 that won from the CPI(ML)(Liberation) and and all five winning candidates from the AIMIM have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

Out of the 241 winners, 194 (81 per cent) are crorepatis. In 2015, 162 (67 per cent) MLAs were crorepatis.

Crorepatis

“Among the major parties, 65 (89 per cent) out of 73 from the BJP, 64 (87 per cent) out of 74 from the RJD, 38 (88 per cent) out of 43 from the JD(U), and 14 (74 per cent) out of 19 from the Congress’ winning candidates have declared assets worth more than ₹1 crore,” the statement said. The average of assets per winners is ₹4.32 crore; it was ₹3.02 crore in 2015.

Educational qualification

A total of 82 (34 per cent) winning candidates have declared their educational qualification to be between 5th pass and 12th pass, while 149 (62 per cent) winners have declared having an educational qualification of graduation and above.

“There are nine candidates who are literate and one winner is a diploma holder,” the statement said.

A total of 115 (48 per cent) winners are between 25 and 50 years of age, while 126 (52 per cent) have declared their age to be between 51 and 80.

“Out of the 241 winning candidates analysed, 26 (11 per cent) winning candidates are women. In 2015, out of 243 MLAs, 28 (12 per cent) MLAs were women,” it added.