New Delhi: With Delhi Assembly elections just a week away, each political party has been trying to showcase itself on a higher moral ground than the other but none of them have hesitated from giving tickets to leaders with criminal cases pending against them.
In fact the number of candidates with criminal cases pending against them has increased this time with 16 per cent candidates with pending criminal cases in the fray as compared to 2008 when there were 14 per cent such candidates, according to a study by Association for Democratic Reforms.
Out of 796 candidates who are contesting elections, 129 candidates have criminal cases registered against them. Of the 129 candidates, 93 have declared serious charges like attempt to murder and dacoity against them.
While the BJP tops the chart with 31 candidates with out of 68 candidates facing criminal charges, the Congress has 15 such candidates and the debutant Aam Aadmi Party which promises to clean the system has fielded 5 candidates who are facing criminal charges whereas 14 out of 67 candidates of the BSP have serious charges against them.
Though parties say that most of the cases related to rioting were filed during protests and many are politically motivated but for a party like the Congress whose Vice President Rahul Gandhi discarded the ordinance to protect convicted leaders as 'nonsense', fielding 8 candidates with serious charges against them won't be easy to explain.
Like Asif Mohd Khan, the party's candidate from Okhla is facing two charges related to attempt to murder, 5 of deterring public servant from performing his duty and their sitting MLA and candidate from Sultanpuri Jai Kishan is facing a charge related to assault with the intent to outrage a women's modesty.
DPCC President JP Aggarwal said, "All the cases are politically motivated" and that "the candidates are innocent."
In the BJP out of 68, 22 candidates are facing serious criminal charges, including its chief ministerial candidate Dr Harsh Vardhan. Harsh Vardhan has a charge related to insulting the modesty of women and charge related to causing grevious hurt pending against him.
Though the party had earlier denied these charges when they were raked up by the Congress, they were not available for a comment after the data was released.
Whereas the Aam Aadmi Party whose CM candidate Arvind Kejriwal has a charge of obstructing a public servant from doing his duty said, "Most of these charges were filed during protests." AAp spokesperson Manish Sisodia who also has pending cases said, "There is no serious charge against any candidate, these charges were mostly filed during protests we staged but if anyone has a charge of corruption or a serious charge, we'll cancel their ticket."
The data also found that in 14 constituencies out of the 70 in Delhi, at least 3 candidates had declared criminal cases against them. Though there's no denying that many of these cases may be political in nature but parties which have fielding candidates with serious criminal cases against them have a lot to answer.
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