Electorate in the 39 Lok Sabha constituencies of Tamil Nadu seem to have a wide choice to choose from crorepatis and those with criminal cases besides those who never went to college and those yet to declare even income tax details.
Affidavits filed by 844 out of the 845 candidates were analysed in a study conducted by the Tamil Nadu Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms and the study is about criminal, financial and other background details of candidates.
Of them, 103 candidates, 12 per cent of the total, have declared that they have criminal cases against them. Of them, 53 candidates have said they have serious criminal cases. In 2009, 63 candidates had criminal cases and of them 31 had serious criminal cases like attempt to murder. The share of parties among contesting candidates with FIRs’ this time include Congress (23 per cent), BJP (22 per cent), AIADMK (18 per cent), DMK (18 per cent), AAP (17 per cent), and DMDK candidates top this list with 36 per cent criminal cases.
In 2009, there were 98 crorepati candidates, and the number rose to 178 in 2014. It means 21 per cent of the candidates now are crorepatis. Among them, 33 Congress nominees, six BJP nominees, 31 AIADMK candidates, 33 nominees of DMK, 12 DMDK nominees and 12 AAP candidates have declared assets worth more than Rs. 1 crore.
Among the high-net worth candidates this time are H. Vasanth Kumar of the Congress in Kanyakumari with Rs. 285 crore (liabilities Rs. 87.60 crores), A.C. Shanmugam of the BJP with Rs. 106 crore (liabilities Rs. 34.46 crore) and K.N. Ramachandran of the AIADMK in Sriperumbudur with Rs. 93 crore.
