Battleground Gujarat: Three face murder charges, 17 attempt to murder

Three candidates have murder charges under IPC 302 against them.

An independent study and scrutiny of affidavits show there are 17 candidates who have declared cases related to attempt to murder under Indian Penal Code Section-307, there are also four candidates facing charges related to rape there are seven candidates with cases related to kidnapping.

The study carried out by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), a non-governmental organisation, and the Gujarat Election Watch reveal that 56 Congress candidates contesting Gujarat polls this year had criminal cases against them, while the number of BJP nominees in this category was 46.

Among the prominent candidates Maheshbhai Chotubhai Vasava, who was lately made president of a faction of JD(U) and now leader of newly-floated Bharatiya Tribal Party, has two charges related to murder against him.

Maheshbhai Somjibhai Bhuriya (BJP) and Katara Bhaveshbhai Babubhai Katara (Congress) contesting from Jhalod - Scheduled Tribe - seat in Dahod district also has one murder charge each against them.

"Out of 1,815 candidates analysed, 253 (14%) candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves. In 2012 Gujarat Assembly Elections, out of 1283 candidates analysed, 222 (17%) had declared criminal cases against themselves," the report said.

A  total of 791 Independent candidates analysed have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.There are 35(19%) out of 182 constituencies in the Gujarat assembly elections having 3 or more candidates with declared criminal cases.  In 2012 Gujarat Assembly elections, there were 25 (14%) - such red alert constituencies.

The average worth of assets of the candidates contesting the Gujarat polls was Rs 2.22 crore, the report said. It also said the average worth of assets for the 181 BJP candidates in the fray was Rs 9.04 crore, while the figure was pegged at Rs 9.10 crore for the 176 Congress candidates and at Rs 19.84 lakh for the 138 BSP nominees.