Himachal BJP fields most candidates with pending criminal cases

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New Delhi: Surprise! The favourite Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) on the election poll on HImVani has 25 candidates out of 68 candidates it has fielded for elections with pending criminal cases against them. That means a huge 36.76 per cent. The figures have been made public by ‘Himachal Pradesh Election Watch’ (HPEW), a non-partisan civil society effort by a number of academicians, social activists, intellectuals, NGOs, youth, retired government officers and many concerned citizens.

ADR (Association for Democratic Reforms), Lok Kalyan Mandal, and more than 14 NGOs and social activists have collectively worked for HPEW to bring out the report.

Percentage wise, CPI/CPM comes high on the list with 40 per cent of its candidates (six out of 15) having pending criminal cases against them.

The Congress, of its 67 candidates has only five of its candidates with pending criminal cases. BSP too has the same figures. Of the total 336 candidates considered, a total number of 50 candidates have criminal cases pending against them. That means – of the total candidates that have criminal cases pending against them, 50 per cent of them are from the BJP.

The nature of criminal charges includes attempt to murder, kidnapping, theft, wrongful restraint/confinement, extortion, cheating/forgery and criminal intimidation, besides others.

The report has been made from data collected from the affidavits filed by the candidates along with their nomination papers, which HPEW has collated for better comprehension of the voter.

As far as education is concerned, the BJP has fielded 10 post-graduate candidates, 37 graduates, 16 matriculate, one non-matriculate and zero illiterate. In comparison, the Congress only has eight post-graduate candidates. However, they have the highest number of graduate candidates – 40. Of all the 14 parties (if you include independents as a separate party just for count sake) there is one independent illiterate candidate too in the fray.

Talking about reservation for women, of the total 336 candidates in the fray, 25 are women. All – BJP, Congress and BSP have fielded six women candidates respectively.

In all, 51 candidates have declared assets worth more than Rs 1 crore. Congress leads the category with 27 of the 67 candidates (40%), followed by BJP 13 of its 68 (19%) and BSP with 5 of its 67 (7%) candidates having assets above Rs 1 crore.

Among the major political parties, average declared assets of Congress candidates is worth Rs 3.02 crore, the BJP’s average stands at 71.31 lakh, and BSP’s at 39.32 lakh.

In a separate online poll on HimVani, BJP, as on December 12, was leading with 26 of the total 38 votes clicked in its favour. Congress was way behind with a meagre six votes. But then these are online polls, while ground realities can be totally different.

It’s up to the voters now to decide whom to vote for and whom not to. Don’t go by gimmicks. Use your brains and vote judiciously. Also, PLEASE go out and VOTE. It’s your fundamental right and duty as well.

For the entire HPEW report, CLICK HERE .

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17 COMMENTS

  1. Nice effort by HPEW

    But unfortunately maximum cases cited pertains to “Offences committed by unlawful assembly, Obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions, Criminal trespass, Rioting, Offenses committed by unlawful assembly, Wrongful restraint, Unlawful assembly”.

    It is not fair to generalize such big statements out of this data containing such offenses that are mainly inflicted on opposition party members in addition to “Lathies”.

  2. This is a great report and should be made available on the State Election Comission and HP govt website.

    Regarding educational qualifications, the grades of these candidates must also be mentioned. I mean I have a right to know whether my representative is a first or a third divisioner!!

  3. @RKS

    Do you mean that these offences are only commited when one in opposition, if yes then would theese candiadtes have explained it to teh public about teh circumstances that lead to these criminal cases being resitered against them. And certainly aftre the report they will have to at least explain and also might have to miss a ministrial birth in the cabinet, like it happened in Bihar in Nitish Kumar government after this report. Why can we appreciate the report and come out of the dream that Himachal is a peaceful place. The begining of discord can ahappen anytime, may be this is just the begining in Himachal.
    Hema D.

  4. Mr. Vivid is a strong follower of INC and that depicts in all of his articles..This is my inference from most of his articles … But I will read the report and come back to this articel again 🙂

  5. Dear Vividh,

    Why do you need a ticket from a party which according to HimVani online poll says in going to loose this assembly election 😉

    cheers
    Varun

  6. Dear Varun,
    I wish you understood a bit politics and could be a little forward-looking. I’m not talking about these elections. I’m talking about the next elections when there will be again an anti-incumbency factor and the party would come into power. 😉

    Regards,
    Vividh

  7. @ Hema D
    Though the efforts by HPEW seems nice but it is foolish to believe such things instantaneously in an environment where it is hard to survive for anyone irrespective of profession without political affiliations. I pointed towards the big statement generalized out of this survey and highlighted in this way on HimVani only. Perhaps the some reasons are pointed by Mr. Rajesh.

    We are seeing a news channel in shimla (TV 100 Himalaya) through city cable network presenting propaganda for congress. Channel is airing propaganda to build wave for congress and criticize BJP in worst possible words. There is no confusion about the set agenda which is very open. How can people respond to it. Do you recommend to believe in it as such ?

    Dont you believe in the reality about the intimidation of opposition during whole tenure? Do any police official have guts to register a case against member of ruling party? Nature of offenses are still not comparable with Bihar and UP.

    The things in Himachal are not so simple as it appears. Here the whole system is politicized and truly spoiled that looks polished from outside for all those who do not fully understand it.

  8. Very true.. In fact the other major blog should be renamed bjphimachal. They have posters of BJP leaders and BJP election schedules on the home page.

    Vividh, you may also rename this one as incHimVani if you have such political leanings though I have not noticed these in your writings.

    We all can have a ball once the cat is out of the box.

  9. @Nityin

    I am hooked to these two news blogs on himachal for last about one year. All contributors’ names are familiar now. It is a great media to discuss the issues relating to Himachal. It will build a great society, when the the whole society is able to get an access to these facilities.

    Some biases are automatic in everybody to survive in the system. But to criticize the wrong policies of ruling party requires great courage. If we stop evaluating the things with replacement of govt., we loose our moral right to write.

    We should not be so harsh to Vividh and the another blog. I remember a story by him on pathetic condition of road to Rohru. To write an issue relating to Virbhadra requires courage. (Zee news is still off the air in shimla city after audio CD expose from city cable operator-the largest in Himachal )

    On the other hand, the blog on himachal had perhaps earned some money to pay renumeration to its regular staff. To the best of my knowledge, it is a no profit no loss effort and earns a little though two or three ads. on site. Political ads may however paint anyone in its colour.

  10. @ Vivid

    A writer blogging on his own story. Making subtle advances toward a political party. Churing out half baked figures.I regret visiting this website.

    I guess the Editor is not at the wheels.

  11. @ ‘Very Low’.

    We welcome criticism, but please have the courage to give your real name and real email id.

    Also, if people can’t understand jokes, I cannot help it. The report has been published by ADR and it’s not mine. If one cannot see the Winks in front of the comments, then I should be sorry for them, who do not have a sense of humour. If you feel that there are half baked figures, Please can you provide the full figures. Also, I’ve given the link above to the complete report published by ADR. Please refer to that for complete figures.

    I’ve time and again through this website supported policies of Shanta Kumar, how much so unpopular he might be. In fact I was today talking to a PR officer of Himachal, who told me stories how forward looking Shanta Kumar was as far as policies are concerned and how unpopular he was when it came to personal relations with people.

    Well, if I have to analyse the manifestos of the political parties, I’d say that BJP has come up with a good manifesto stressing on tourism. Meanwhile, Congress is there to appease the employees. But if the economy has to grow, we would certainly have to focus on tourism and agriculture. But I’m against haphazard promotion of tourism and encouragement of bag-packers as they ruin the place. I recently attended a seminar where the father of Incredible India and ‘God’s Own Country’ talked how low-end tourism has ruined the hill-stations. I gave ideas to the government through this forum for tourism and branding Himachal, which the government earnestly took up. And I was the first one to criticise that though it went for branding, it went the wrong way by making Dalai Lama as the brand ambassador. The target audience for them was Chinese, Koreans and Japanese. Fine – Japanese and Koreans. But Chinese… a controversial person should not have been the brand ambassador. Well, I’ll focus more on it on a separate article why Himachal should stop bag packers and how it’s not only ruining the hill-stations but putting pressure on infrastructure.

    Also, HimVani is a public forum and we have requested time and again to people to please please write and analyse things. We’ll publish your perspective as well. But most of the people here seem to be just for criticism. And that’s where HimVani differs. We want to act as a catalyst and as a think-tank. So please come up with those ideas and analysis.

    I invite Mr/Ms ‘Very Low’ to please edit our stories and come forward as a volunteer. But I’m doubtful that your name itself is ‘Very Low’, how good your work be. Very Low seems to have a low esteem of him/herself that could not find a better name for him/herself.

  12. “Making subtle advances toward a political party. Churing out half baked figures”.

    These two sentences are right but not the……”A writer blogging on his own story”. Writer has the full right and obligation to comment and answer on his own story. Exclusivity like this will simply mean feudal mentality.

  13. @ Very Low

    I writer can always clarify questions raised by the readerson his point of view; If you feel you have wasted your time being here so please move on

    @ Vivid

    Generalzing that “all are here for criticism only” .. in my opinion is incorrect. If you are doing a good deed; that does not mean people who are not supporting you are always bad, so I find the words bit harsh.

  14. Thanks Rajesh for your point of view. I did not mean to generalise. I’m saying, if somebody has to criticise let him/her have the courage to at least come up with a real name. We appreciate healthy criticism on this forum. But if anybody has to say anything negative also, let him/her debate it with an identity. I’ve seen many both positive and negative comments above and I appreciate all that. I feel, Journalism is a learning process and even if you ask Khsuhwant Singh today, he’ll still have to say that he’s learning. I’m also a learner and learning till death. But yes, words have to be harsh if some faceless person questions your integrity. Let’s have a healthy debate. All I have to say.

    And I agree with you and RKS that the beauty about internet is that you can have a real time debate. And healthy feedback, which a newspaper does not allow, because of the constraint of space or other policies. But on internet, we can refine an idea with debate.

    If I or you give an idea, not necessarily the idea would be great. But we can make it great by having a healthy criticism and debate.

    In fact, on another post, “Why Himachal does not count in National Politics”, I’ve invited people to add more points to it, or have a debate, whether they agree with my view or not. In fact, if one feels that Himachal is counted, why not, everyone is open to write an article, which will get a due space here. I feel that Himachal is least counted in national politics. People may agree or not. Let everybody have a healthy debate over it. We can refine the idea. Come up with the best ideas, cull them and in fact make ourselves counted with those ideas.

    I’d suggested there – to inculcate leadership at the school level itself. Though I had not said directly but subtly. So let’s have ideas and debate over it.

  15. Interesting debate, politics always seems to get opinions from least likely corners. However, as a co-founder I have happy to know we have regular readers. It is also scary as expectations are high from us and living upto them is a challenge.

    To the readers, rest assured HimVani is building a platform where multiple views are highlighted so that diversity of our community is reflected. However we don’t have the $ to pay for regular staff. So we request concerned citizens to write and co-own HimVani 🙂

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