Politics and crime have a close relation and it is being proved once again in Bihar. The state will vote in five phases starting from October 12 to elect a new Assembly and an analysis of the affidavits of 583 candidates contesting in 49 seats in the first round reveals that 174 (30%) of them are accused in criminal cases.
According to the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) which went though the affidavits of all the candidates, 130 (22%) of them have declared serious criminal cases including cases related to murder, attempt to murder, communal disharmony, kidnapping, crimes against women including rape etc.
No party can claim to have a clean record as 14 (52%) out of 27 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates, 11 (46%) out of 24 Janata Dal United (JDU) candidates, 8 (47%) out of 17 Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) candidates, 6 (75%) out of 8 Congress candidates and 8 (62%) out of 13 Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) candidates face criminal charges.
Smaller parties are equally guilty of putting up candidates with criminal charges. Fourteen 14 (56%) out of 25 Communist Party of India (CPI) candidates, 8 (20%) out of 41 Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidates, 9 (50%) out of 18 Samajwadi Party (SP) candidates, 8 (67%) out of 12 Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPIM) candidates and 45 (23%) out of 192 Independents have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.
Party wise candidates with serious criminal cases data reveals that BJP has fielded the maximum number of such contestants at 10 (37%) followed by JDU at 9 (38%). Other parties are not far behind with 7(39%) SP candidates, 6 (35%) RJD candidates, 4 (50%) Congress candidates, 6 (46%) LJP candidates, 5 (42%) CPIM and 38 (20%) of independents facing serious criminal charges.
Thirty-seven of the 49 seats voting in the first phase have at least three candidates with declared criminal cases.
A total of 16 candidates have declared cases related to murder (Indian Penal Code Section-302). Pradeep Kumar of the JDU from Warsaliganj constituency has four charges related to murder while rest of the candidates face one charge each. Even Independent candidates are not behind and seven of them have declared cases related to murder.
Candidates with cases related to Attempt to Murder (IPC Section-307) number 37. Ramswarup Yadav, an Independent candidate from Hisua constituency faces five charges related to attempt to murder. One candidate each of BSP, BJP), Jan Adhikar Party (Loktantrik) (JAPL) along with one Independent have each declared two charges related to attempt to murder. Three JDU candidates are also accused of attempt to murder.
Many of the contestants are accused of committing crime against women too. As per the affidavit 11 candidates have declared cases related to crimes against women with Nityanand Kumar, an Independent candidate from Suryagarha constituency and Rajiiv Nayak, another Independent candidate from Jamalpur constituency, have once charge each related to rape (IPC Section-376) against them. Suman Kumar Singh, an Independent candidate from Kahalgaon constituency has declared an offence of dowry death (IPC Section-304B).
Two candidates have declared cases relating to causing communal disharmony. Shakuni Choudhary of Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) from Tarapur constituency has declared a case related to injuring or defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class (IPC Section-295). Rambalak Singh of JDU from Bibhutipur constituency has declared a case related to promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony (IPC Section-153A).
Some candidates are also accused in cases related to robbery and dacoity. Five candidates have declared cases related to robbery and dacoity. Ram Lakhan Singh of BJP from Teghra constituency has declared one charge each related to making preparation to commit dacoity (IPC Section-399) and assembling for purpose of committing dacoity (IPC Section - 402).
Baiju Kumar Rai, an Independent candidate, from Ujiarpur constituency has declared one charge each related to dacoity (IPC Section-395), making preparation to commit dacoity and voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery (IPC Section - 394).
Nine candidates have declared cases related to kidnapping and five have declared offence related to kidnapping or abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine person (IPC Section-365), and four candidates have declared offence related to kidnapping or abducting in order to murder (IPC Section-364). Moreover, five candidates have declared more than one charge related to kidnapping against themselves.
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