Ashish Ranjan
ADR Report: On Friday, a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), a registered non-governmental organisation (NGO) working to effect electoral reforms in the country, revealed that over 21% of the winning candidates in the Tripura Assembly Elections 2023 are crorepatis and 16% of the candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves.
ADR analysed the self-sworn affidavits of all sixty winning Tripura Assembly Elections 2023 candidates. 32 candidates from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), 13 candidates from the Tipra Motha Party, 11 candidates from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI(M), 3 candidates from the Congress, and 1 candidate from the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura are among the 60 winning candidates analysed (IPFT).
According to the report, approximately 33% of Bharatiya Janata Party candidates have disclosed severe criminal charges in their affidavits. The Congress ranked first, with three out of three victorious candidates being billionaires. The average winning candidate’s assets in the Tripura Assembly Elections are valued at 1.52 cr, with the Congress coming out on top with an average of 4.79 cr.
The average assets per candidate for 32 BJP candidates were valued at 1.89 crore, compared to 60,92 lakh for Tipra Motha Party candidates and 80,11 lakh for CPI(M) candidates.
5 of 32 winning candidates from the BJP, 3 of 13 winning candidates from the Tripura Motha Party, 2 of 11 winning candidates from the CPI(M), and 1 of 3 winning candidates from the Congress disclosed criminal cases in their affidavits. Three candidates from the BJP, four candidates from the National People’s Party, three candidates from the Tripura Motha Party, two candidates from the CPI(M), and one candidate from the Congress have proclaimed serious criminal cases against themselves.
Political parties at the national and state levels are required to publish on their websites comprehensive information about candidates with pending criminal cases, including the nature of the offences, pertinent details such as whether charges have been filed, the court involved, the case number, etc.
Chief Minister Manik Saha, a BJP member who represents the Town Bardowali constituency, has the most valuable assets with a total value of over 13 crores, followed by Biswa Bandhu Sen and Sudip Roy Barman with total assets of over 9 crores each. In his Income Tax Returns (ITR), BJP leader Pranajit Singha Roy declared the maximum income of 42 lakh, followed by BJP leaders Biswa Bandhu Sen and Manik Saha with 18 lakh and 19 lakh, respectively.
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26 (43%) of the 60 winning candidates have a high school diploma or higher, while 33 (55%) have a bachelor’s degree, and a single candidate has a diploma. The age group between 41 and 50 had the most candidates win the election, while the age group between 25 and 30 had only one candidate win. Only 9 (15%) of the sixty successful candidates are women. The BJP-IPFT alliance has won 33 of the 60 assembly seats in Tripura, ensuring its return for a second term.
