Gujarat nominees with criminal records on the rise, AAP fields max at 36%

One in each 5 candidates in the fray in the first part of the Gujarat meeting elections faces criminal costs, based on an evaluation of 788 candidates for 89 seats carried out by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

The evaluation reveals that 21% of the complete candidates in the first part have criminal records, up from 15% in these seats in the 2017 elections.

Importantly, the share of these dealing with critical criminal costs has elevated from 8% in 2017 to 13% in these polls.

These offences embody electoral misdemeanours, inflicting loss to exchequer, assault, homicide, kidnapping and rape.

Among the political events, AAP has fielded the highest quantity of candidates with criminal circumstances.

Of the 88 candidates fielded by the occasion, 36% have a criminal report, with 30% dealing with critical costs.

Among the Congress nominees, 35% face criminal costs, and 20% are dealing with critical costs. As for BJP, 16% of its candidates face criminal costs, and 12% of them have critical costs towards them.

In the first part of 2017 polls, Congress had 36% candidates with criminal circumstances, BJP 25%, and AAP 11%.

Constituencies with three or extra candidates with criminal records have additionally elevated from 22 in 2017 to 25 in 2022.

Of the 15 candidates in the Limbdi constituency in the 2022 ballot, seven have criminal circumstances towards them.

In different constituencies, termed 'red alert constituencies' by ADR, the state of affairs is not any completely different.

On the Karanj seat in Surat district, 4 of the eight candidates have criminal records, whereas three of the 4 candidates on the Dediapada seat in Narmada district face criminal costs.