Voters queue up to cast their ballots at a polling station during the first phase of assembly elections in Shopian, south of Srinagar, on September 18, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Imran Nissar
Of the 873 candidates contesting the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly election, 137 are from national parties, 205 from regional parties, and 185 from registered unrecognised parties.
A total of 346 are contesting as Independents, shows an analysis by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Jammu and Kashmir Election Watch. Only 43 candidates are women.
The report also shows that the percentage of candidates with criminal cases has gone up from 6% in 2014 to 17% in 2024.
The ADR analysed the self-sworn affidavits of 872 candidates. The affidavit of an Independent candidate, Sarjan Ahmad Wagay, in the Beerwah constituency has not been analysed as a clear and complete document of his was unavailable on the Election Commission website at the time of compiling the report.
The Assembly election to Jammu and Kashmir is being held in three phases on September 18 and 25, and October 1. The counting of votes will take place on October 8, 2024.
Among the 872 candidates analysed, 152 (17%) candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves. In the 2014 Jammu and Kashmir Assembly election, out of the 831 candidates analysed, 49 (6%) had declared criminal cases against themselves.
A total of 114 (13%) have declared serious criminal cases. The commensurate figure for 2014 was 33 (4%).
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has nine candidates with serious criminal cases, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress have five each. The Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) has three candidates with serious criminal cases, while the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has one such candidate.
There are 410 candidates who are crorepatis (net worth more than a crore). The average assets of candidates amounted to โน3.65 crore.
Published – September 23, 2024 11:06 pm IST
