21% Tripura winning candidates are crorepatis, 16% have criminal cases: ADR report
Over 21% of the winning candidates from the Tripura Assembly Elections 2023 are crorepatis while 16% of the candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves, a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), a registered non-governmental organisation (NGO) working to effect electoral reforms in the country, revealed on Friday.
ADR analysed the self-sworn affidavits of all 60 winning candidates of the Tripura Assembly Elections 2023. Out of 60 winning candidates analysed, 32 are from the Bharatiya Janat Party (BJP), 13 from the Tipra Motha Party, 11 from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI(M), 3 from the Congress and 1 candidate from the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT).
According to the report, around 33% of the candidates from the Bharatiya Janata Party have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits. The Congress ranked on top with 3 out of 3 winning candidates being crorepatis. The average assets per winning candidate in the Tripura Assembly Elections are valued at ₹1.52 cr, with the Congress leading in average assets of ₹4.79 crores. The average assets per candidate for 32 BJP candidates have valued at ₹1.89 crore, while that for the Tipra Motha Party winning candidates is ₹60.92 lakh and the CPI(M) ₹80.11 lakh.
Among the major parties, 5 out of 32 winning candidates from the BJP, 3 out of 13 winning candidates from the Tripura Motha Party, 2 out of 11 winning candidates from the CPI(M) and 1 out of 3 winning candidates from the Congress have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits. Three candidates from the BJP, four from the NPP, three from the Tripura Motha Party, two from the CPI(M) and one from the Congress have declared serious criminal cases against themselves.
It is mandatory for political parties at the central and state level to upload on their website detailed information regarding candidates with pending criminal cases including the nature of the offences, relevant particulars like whether charges have been framed, the court concerned, the case number etc.
Chief minister Manik Saha, a BJP member representing the Town Bardowali constituency, holds the highest valued assets at over ₹13 crores, followed by Biswa Bandhu Sen and Sudip Roy Barman with total assets of over ₹9 crore each respectively. Pranajit Singha Roy from the BJP has declared the highest income in his Income Tax Returns (ITR) of ₹42 lakh, followed by BJP leaders Biswa Bandhu Sen and Manik Saha with ₹18 lakh and ₹19 lakh respectively.
Out of the winning 60 candidates, 26 (43%) have declared educational qualification of 8th Class and above, whereas 33 candidates (55%) declared as graduates, with only one diploma-holding candidate. The highest number of winning in the election belongs to the 41-50 age group, the lowest from the 25-30 age bracket, which saw only one candidate win. Out of 60 winning candidates, only 9 (15%) are women. The BJP-IPFT alliance has secured its return in Tripura for the second term, winning 33 seats in the 60-member assembly.