KOCHI: The ‘crorepati candidates’ club in the State has been getting increasingly crowded since 2006. According to the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), which analysed the election affidavits filed before the Election Commission, the number of crorepati candidates jumped from 20 in the Assembly election held in 2006 to 68 in 2011.
The Congress led the list of crorepati candidates in 2011 while the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) came a close second. The Congress had 14 crorepati candidates while IUML fielded 13. The BJP was in the third position, with 11 of its candidates figuring in the list. Even the CPI(M) had six candidates on the crorepati list in 2011.
In 2006, the Democratic Indira Congress (Karunakaran) and the IUML were tied for the first place, with three each of its candidates in the crorepati list. Among the candidates who fought the election in 2011, Thomas Chandy, who contested as a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) candidate, was the richest among all the candidates with a declared asset of Rs.45 crore. He was the topper in 2006 as well, with assets then worth Rs.16 crore. Of the 68 crorepati candidates in 2011, 33 made it to the Assembly, while eight of the 20 crorepati candidates in 2006 won.
The Lok Sabha elections held in 2014 had 39 candidates in the State figuring in the crorepati club. Independents topped the list (11) followed by the Congress (7) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (4).
Shashi Tharoor of the Congress, who won from the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency, was the richest among the candidates in the State with assets worth Rs.23 crore. Anitha Prathap, writer and senior journalist, who contested from Ernakulam as the Aam Aadmi Party candidate, held the second position with Rs. 20 crore.
Crimes no bar
The Congress had the largest number of MLAs with criminal cases against them in the 13th Legislative Assembly.
The CPI (M) was close second, as 17 of their MLAs faced criminal charges. An analysis by the Association for Democratic Reforms found that 39 per cent of the candidates in the Assembly elections held in 2011 had criminal cases against them. Thirty-two candidates were facing serious criminal charges.
But the BJP topped the list of major political parties having the highest number of candidates with criminal cases in the 2011 election. The data showed that 47 BJP candidates were facing criminal charges followed by the Congress, 39, and the CPI(M), 33.
In 2006, a total of 124 candidates trailed criminal cases and 68 of them made it to the 12th Legislative Assembly. Interestingly, 33 per cent of the candidates in the 2011 Assembly election had failed to file their income tax returns. Among them, 54 candidates won the election. Fifty five per cent candidates (243) also refused to declare their permanent account numbers (PAN) and 56 from this group won the election.
The number of crorepatis in the electoral fray has shown a steady growth since 2006
