Politicians With criminal records is always a serious matter of concern for Indian electoral polity and poses a big threat to democratic ethos. In an astonishing fact revealed recently every one out of three candidates who have been fielded by the country’s two major national parties, the main opposition party BJP and the ruling Congress, have criminal cases against them, according to the latest survey conducted by the prestigious National Election Watch and the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR).
As a matter of fact, The National Election Watch and the ADR have scanned through a sample of 280 affidavits of candidates from the BJP and the Congress, of the 469 candidates announced so far by the two parties for the Lok Sabha Elections. 30 per cent of candidates fielded by both parties have criminal charges against them; of them 13 per cent face serious and grave charges like murder and kidnapping.
35 per cent of the BJP’s candidates face criminal charges, of them 17 percent are serious charges. Meanwhile, 27 per cent of Congress’ candidates face criminal charges, with 10 per cent facing serious charges.
Just in the National Capital Delhi , both parties have at least two candidates with charges of attempt to murder – Satish Dubey of the BJP and Ramesh Chand Tomar of the Congress.
The very presence of criminals not only poses a greater threat to the overall safety of the society but at a larger level threatens to harm the grassroots of good governance and democratic principles.
