103 LS Candidates in TN - Criminal Cases

According to a report released by the Tamil Nadu Election Watch and the Association for Democratic Reform, of the 844 candidates contesting in the 39 constituencies in the State, 103 or 12% have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits and half of those are ‘serious’ cases.

Of the 844 candidates contesting in the 39 constituencies in the State, 103 or 12% have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits and half of those are ‘serious’ cases. In fact, 53 of them have declared cases that deal with serious offences relating to murder, attempt to

THE BREAK – UP
Serious Criminal Cases on Candidates: Party Wise Percentage
DMDK	21%
DMK	15%
AAP	13%
BJP	11%
Congress	10%
AIADMK	08%
Average Assets: Party Wise (in Rs.)
BJP	31.77 crore
Congress	18.60 crore
DMK	10.69 crore
DMDK	09.95 crore
AIADMK	06.34 crore
AAP	02.79 crore
Only 53 women out of 844 candidates
65% or 545 candidates in the age group of 25 – 50 years

murder, kidnapping etc. Two AAP candidates, S P Udayakumar and M Pushparayan, have 382 and 380 cases registered against them, respectively. But out of Udayakumar’s 380 cases, charges have been framed in only two, while no charges have been framed in any of the cases filed against Pushparayan.

The only major party with no candidates having serious criminal cases against them is the CPI. Conversely, 38% of PMK’s and 29% of MDMK’s candidates have declared serious criminal cases registered against them.

Two candidates, T Sadhan Thirumalaikumar, the MDMK’s Tenkasi candidate and S Radhakrishnan, an Independent also contesting Tenkasi have declared murder related cases. Besides, 14 have declared cases related to an attempt to murder, while five have cases related to sedition and seven to kidnapping. The report also declares 18 ‘red alert’ constituencies, which are fielding three or more candidates with declared criminal cases.

On the financial front, the report says a whopping 21% of the 844 candidates are ‘crorepatis’, with declared assets worth more than Rs. 1 crore. According to the report, 97% or 33 out of 34 candidates from the DMK feature in the crorepati list, while 85% of the Congress’ 39 candidates and 80% of the AIADMK’s 39 candidates also feature on that list. Topping the individual asset list is the Congress’s Kanyakumari candidate H Vasantha Kumar with declared assets of more than Rs. 285 crore. While A C Shanmugam, BJP-Vellore, and K N Ramachandran, AIADMK-Sriperumbudur, follow with Rs. 106 crore and Rs. 93 crore, respectively. The average assets of all 844 candidates this election is Rs. 2.56 crore. Interestingly, 14 candidates have declared nil total assets.

The report also notes that 540 candidates have not declared Income Tax details, of which 15 feature in the crorepati list and 346 have not disclosed their PAN details either. Only 53 of the 844 candidates are women and 65% of all candidates fall inside the 25-50 age group.
See Also:
Richer Candidates in 2014 Elections - TN
Number of Contestants in 2014 Elections - TN
Who are all contesting in 2014 Elections? - 2014