For people of Uttar Pradesh who are going to cast their vote in the fourth phase of the assembly election on February 19, crorepatis are standing in line to woo them. A report, jointly released by NGO Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Uttar Pradesh Election Watch (UPEW), reveals that 47 percent of the candidates contesting assembly elections are crorepatis.

Out of 966 candidates fielded by various parties in fourth phase, UPEW analyzed affidavits of 297 candidates on the basis of availability. It has turned out that 139 candidates (47 percent), are crorepatis.

The candidates with the maximum assets is Shyam Charan Gupta of SP from Manikpur constituency with assets worth Rs 40.45 crore. He is followed by Shiv Prakash Mishra Senani of BSP from Kunda constituency with Rs 30.05 crore and his party fellow Sindhuja Mishra Senani from Vishwanath Ganj constituency with assets worth Rs 30.05 crore.

Only three candidates have declared assets of less than Rs 1 lakh.

The report also notes the increase in the asset of the sitting MLAs contesting elections. The average asset growth of these 40 sitting MLAs is Rs 1.51 crore and the avaerage percentage growth rests at 140 percent.

Ajay Pal Singh of INC from Unchahar constituency has the highest increase in asset worth Rs.10.91 crore, followed by Mayankeshwar Sharan Singh of SP from Tiloi with an asset increase of Rs. 5.38 crore and Vivek Kumar Singh of INC from Banda constituency with an asset increase of Rs. 5.20 crore.

The report reveals that out of these 297 candidates, 103 candidates or 35 percent have declared criminal cases against them. Almost every party has given ticket to such candidates. While SP has 29 such candidates out of 54 (54%) fielded in the poll fray, INC has 25 out of 56 (45%), BSP 18 out of 56 (32%), BJP 11 out of 56 (20%), Peace Party seven out of 22 (32 %), Apna Dal five out of 17 (29%), JD(U) five out of 28 (18%), Bundelkhand Congress one out of six (17%) and Qaumi Ekta Dal has one such candidate (100%) with pending criminal cases contesting the elections.

Out of these 103 candidates, 49 have declared serious criminal cases like murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, robbery, extortion etc. SP has 12, BSP and INC has 10 each, BJP and Peace Part has five each, JD(U) and Apna Dal three and one independent such candidates.

Among candidates of major parties who have declared criminal cases against themselves, Ravidas Mehrotra of SP, contesting from Lucknow Central constituency has declared 17 criminal cases including seven serious IPC charges, including charges of attempt to murder, against him. Pushpendra Singh of BSP contesting from Rae Bareli constituency has declared nine criminal cases and four serious IPC charges including attempt to murder. Ramesh Srivastava of INC from Lucknow East has declared seven criminal cases against him including charge of attempt to murder. Dherendra Bahadur Singh of BJP from Sareni constituency has declared eight criminal cases including charges of attempt to murder.

The good thing about the fourth phase of election is that it has the maximum number of graduates and candidates with higher qualification, which is 201 out of 297 candidates (68 percent).

Also, according to the report, only 91 (9%) candidates are women fielded by various parties in election. The number of women candidates for BSP is six out of 56, for BJP it is five out of 56, INC eight out of 56 and for SP it is seven out of 54.

Akhilesh Pathak (BJP) has the highest annual income at Rs. 90.70 Lakhs followed by Mohammad Umar Khan (BSP) at Rs. 88.35 lakh, Shyama Charan Gupta (SP) at Rs. 77.36 lakh and Jamaluddin Siddiqui (SP) at Rs. 42.33 lakh as per their last filed income tax returns.

A total of 93 candidates (31%) out of the 297 candidates analyzed by the UPEW have declared that they have never filed income tax returns.

Out of these 93 candidates, JD(U) has the maximum number i.e. 17 (61%) out of 28 candidates, followed by SP 17 (31%) out of 54 candidates. While BJP has 17 (30%) out of 56 such candidates, INC has 14 (25%) out of 56 candidates, Apna Dal 11 (65%) out of 17, Peace Party eight (36%) out of 22, BSP six (11%) out of 56 candidates and Bundelkhand Congress has three (50%) out of six candidates who have not filed IT returns.

Top three candidates with maximum assets but who have never filed IT returns are Surendra Bahadur Singh of Peace Party contesting from Sareni (Rs. 11.82 crore), followed by Atul of Bundelkhand Congress from Baberu (Rs. 7.09 crore) and Pushpa Devi of Apna Dal from Salon (SC) (Rs. 4.26 crore).

The report says that 52 (18%) candidates have not declared their PAN details in the affidavits of which JD (U) has the maximum number of candidate(10 out of 28). BJP has 13 out of 56, INC eight out of 56, SP six out of 54 candidates, Peace party four out of 22, BSP two out of 56, Apna Dal has six out 17 and Bundelkhand Congress has three out of six candidates who have not declared their PAN card details.

Top three candidates with maximum assets but not declared their PAN card details are Atul of Bundelkhand Congress contesting from Baberu constituency (Rs. 7.09 crore), followed by Sayed Qasim Hasan of SP from Fatehpur (Rs. 2.28 crore) and Shiv Shankar Singh Patel of INC from Baberu (Rs. 1.29 crore).