An analysis by election watchdog Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has found that 38 candidates, or 15% of all, appearing in the coming election in Goa have criminal cases registered against them. Nineteen of them face serious criminal charges, including those of assault, murder, kidnap and rape.
Topping the list of parties with such candidates is the NCP, which has 29 per cent or 5 of 17 its candidates facing criminal charges. Coming in second is the Congress, which has nine of its 37 candidates facing similar charges. The BJP (17%), the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak (8%) and the AAP (8%) come third, fourth and fifth, respectively. St. Andre is the only constituency that has three or more candidates having such background.
About 62% of the candidates are crorepatis. There are 30 candidates (12%) who have assets worth Rs. 10 crore or above and 37 (15%) who have between Rs. 5 crore and Rs. 10 crore. The biggest chunk, however, is made up of those having assets worth between Rs. 1 crore and Rs. 5 crore. There are 89 candidates in that category. Ninety-seven per cent of the BJP candidates are crorepatis. The Congress comes second at 92%.
The average worth of the candidates’ assets is Rs. 4.75 crore.
Ranjit Cotta Carvalho, the AAP candidate from the Fatorda constituency, is the richest candidate in the fray, with assets worth Rs. 65 crore. He has declared movable assets worth nearly Rs. 20 crore and immovable assets worth Rs. 65 crore. The second and third spots are held by Michael Vincent Lobo (BJP) and Pratapshingh R. Rane (INC).
Jose Lopes, an independent candidate from the St. Cruz constituency, has declared zero assets in his affidavit.
Other details
Over half of the candidates have declared their educational qualification to be between ‘5th pass and 12th pass’. One hundred and two, or 41% of the candidates, said they are ‘graduates or above’. The analysis also showed that over one-thirds of the candidates were aged between 51 years and 80 years. And, among the 251 candidates analysed, only 18 or seven per cent were women.
