CHENNAI: As many as 157 candidates fielded by major parties have declared that they have serious criminal cases, including murder, attempt to murder, crime against women and children, and corruption, pending against them. Even if they win, they are at risk of losing their MLA posts as these offences carry maximum punishment of five years and more, Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), an NGO, said.Of 157 candidates, AIADMK fielded 60 candidates with serious criminal cases pending against them, which is 35% of its total 170 candidates. About 43 candidates from TVK out of 231, and 32 from DMK also fall in this category. BJP (9), Congress (5), PMK (6), DMDK (1) and CPI (1) also fielded candidates with pending serious criminal cases.“An analysis of 3,992 affidavits filed by candidates in Tamil Nadu assembly elections revealed that 404 candidates have declared serious criminal cases, including crimes against women, murder and attempt to murder cases. The candidates with serious criminal cases increased to 404 from 207 in 2021,” said Joseph Victor Raj, coordinator for TN and Puducherry, National Election Watch. The association said it was not able to analyse affidavits of 31 candidates as the scanned images were unclear.Likewise, the number of candidates with criminal cases increased from 466 (13%) last election to 722 (18%). Again, AIADMK topped the chart as it fielded 118 candidates with criminal cases pending against them, while DMK fielded 70 out of 175 candidates. TVK featured in the list with 92 candidates, which is about 40% of its candidates. Further, BJP fielded 16 candidates with criminal cases against them. Some high-profile candidates, including deputy CM Udhayanidhi Stalin, find place in the list as he showed nine cases pending against him for his speech criticising Sanatana Dharma.“The data clearly shows that political parties have no interest in reforming electoral system and our democracy will continue to suffer at the hands of lawbreakers who become lawmakers,” he added.ADR said there are 22 billionaires among the candidates. “The average assets’ value of candidates has increased from 1.72 crore to 5.17 crore,” said Jayaram Venkatesan, convener of Arappor Iyakkam.
