Bengaluru: The number of candidates with declared criminal cases has increased in all three parties between 2018 elections and now. The number of cases has gone up from 83 to 96 among BJP candidates, 59 to 122 cases among Congress candidates and 41 to 70 cases among JDS candidates, revealed the report ‘Karnataka Assembly Elections 2023: Analysis of Criminal Background, Financial, Education, Gender and other Details of Candidates’ released by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
Eight candidates who have declared murder related cases (IPC Section 302), 35 candidates who have declared attempt to murder cases (Section 307) and 49 candidates who have declared cases of crime against women are contesting in this year’s State assembly election. Among the candidates who have declared cases of crime against women, one is a case related to rape.
Congress candidates have a higher number of criminal cases against them, including serious criminal cases. While 55% of Congress’s candidates have declared criminal cases, 31% have serious criminal cases. In BJP, 30% of candidates have serious cases while in JDS 25% of the candidates have declared serious criminal cases.
Permanent disqualification
ADR has recommended that there should be permanent disqualification of candidates convicted for heinous crimes like murder, rape, smuggling, dacoity and kidnapping. They have also recommended disqualification of those who have been charged with serious criminal offences from contesting elections.
Politicians who have cases against them can contest for elections and even become ministers, Kathyayini Chamaraj, State Coordinator, Karnataka Election Watch, pointed out, adding that it displayed inequality before law.
“The 244th report submitted by the Law Commission to the Supreme Court had recommended the disqualification of candidates who had chargesheets filed against them. But it has not happened. It is in the hands of the voters to use their discretion and not elect such candidates,” Ms Chamaraj said.
Red alert constituencies
About 50% of the total constituencies (111 out of 224) have been declared as Red alert constituencies in the report, meaning that three or more candidates from these constituencies have declared criminal cases against themselves. When compared with 2018 Assembly elections, the Red alert constituencies have gone up by 25 percentage points (56 constituencies in 2018). Byatarayanapura constituency tops the list with seven candidates who have criminal cases against them.
