On March 3, when people of Goa will choose representative for their respective constituencies, chances are that the candidate will be a crorepati. And the one who is not, will become a crorepati soon. This statistic has come out in an analysis carried out by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Goa Election Watch (GEW). The report details the assets, education qualification and criminal charges against the candidates contesting Goa assembly election.

Out of 129 analysed candidates, 35 are re-contesting MLAs whose worth increased by 200 percent within five years of their selection. In addition to this, 71 percent of total candidates are crorepatis fielded by almost all political parties in the election, and only 43 percent have a degree. Also, there are 23 percent candidates who have declared criminal cases against them.

According to the report, Shyam Satardekar of INC from Curchorem constituency has the highest increase in asset (from Rs 4.89 crore to Rs 30.20 crore), followed by Joaquim Alemao of INC from Cuncolim constituency (from Rs 9.12 crore to Rs 31.26 crore) and Pratapsingh Rane of INC from Poreim constituency (from Rs 8.82 crore to Rs 25.87 crore).

The candidate with maximum asset is Dinar Purshottam Kamat Tarcar of MGP from St. Cruz constituency (Rs 211.76 crore) followed by Nirmala Sawant of IND from Cumbarjua constituency (Rs 36.30 crore) and Joaquim Alemao of INC from Cuncolim constituency (Rs 31.26 crore).

Only three candidates declared assets less than Rs 5 lakh.

Party-wise detail says that average asset per candidate for MGP is Rs 33.50 crore, for IND it is Rs 7.20 crore, INC Rs 8.44 crore, BJP Rs 4.21 crore, NCP Rs 10.79 crore, AITC Rs 1.96 crore, GVP Rs 3.95 crore, UGDP Rs 81.65 lakh, and for CPI it is Rs 33.83 lakh.

The report mentions that 43 percent candidates are graduates or above, while only four percent women candiadtes are contesting election.

The report divulges that out of the 129 candidates analysed, 30 candidates (23%) have declared criminal cases against themselves. Almost every party has given tickets to such candidates. The partywise break stands at nine each for INC and BJP, AITC has four out of 18 (22 %), NCP two out of seven (29%) and IND has three out of 18 (17 %) candidates with pending criminal cases.

Also, seven out of these 30 candidates have declared serious criminal charges like attempt to murder, theft, extortion etc against them.

Fransico Xavier Pacheco of GVP contesting from Nuvem with 10 cases has declared the maximum number of criminal cases against himself. He is followed by Arjun Anil Salgaocar of IND contesting from Sanvordem who has declared three cases and Atanasio Monserrate of INC contesting from St. Cruz with two cases against him.