Which is the one field where you earn a lot even if you are least educated or have criminal charges against you? Politics…A recent article in The Times of India clarifies it further. It has mentioned that only 35% of the candidates who are re-contesting from Delhi are graduate or have a higher degree . Near about 60% are either 12th pass or even lower than this. 22 candidates are illiterate. Some of the candidates even have criminal cases against them and many have grave criminal charges against them such as murder, robbery, crime against women etc. Another shocking finding was the threefold increase in the wealth of 66 MLAs who have re-contested polls in Delhi. How could a person within a span of five years become crorepati? The list includes the name of BJP’s Sat Prakash Rana (wealth Rs 6.38 crore in 2008 and Rs 111.89 crore in 2013), Bharat Singh from Indian National Lok Dal (has total assets of Rs 14.45 crore), Parduymn Rajput of the BJP (assets worth Rs 11.90 crore) and Sumesh of Congress (has asset worth Rs 11.43 crore). In this race, Madhya Pradesh is second (25%) and Rajasthan is third (16%). Whereas, in general, 69% of the MLAs in Delhi, 46% in Rajasthan and 38% in Madhya Pradesh are crorepati.
According to the data studied by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), Congress is the richest in Delhi as its 61 candidates out of 70 are crorepati, whereas 58 candidates of BJP are crorepatis. The new entrant Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has 33 members who are crorepatis. The poorest candidate is Dharmendra Singh (worth declared Rs 20,800) and the richest is Manjinder Singh Sirsa (worth declared Rs 235.51 crore).
Another interesting finding is the candidates and their criminal connection. Out of 796 candidates who have been analyzed by the NGOs, 93 have serious criminal cases against them. Further, 14 out of these have charges of attempt to murder and other such charges, three candidates have charges of robbery and dacoity against then and charges of crime against women against 13 candidates. 46% of BJP candidates have criminal charges against them, and Congress has 21% candidates with criminal charges. AAP also has five such persons in the party but most of the cases against them happened while taking part in Jan Lokpal andolan. Bahujan Samaj Party has 14 out of 67 candidates who are charged with criminal cases. As per the study, there is an increase in the number of candidates with criminal cases over the years. In 2008 there were 111 candidates out of 790 and in 2013 there are 129 out of 796 candidates with criminal cases.
But do you think we should vote for the politicians who are contesting in spite of grave criminal cases against them? Majority of public feel that anyone coming to power or even thinking of it must be well qualified and free from criminal charges. Also how almost all these salaried people get so rich within a short span of time and that too after coming to power need not to be answered.
