Out of a total of 50 candidates contesting the Lok Sabha polls on 5 seats in the second phase in Bihar, the Congress candidate from Bhagalpur Ajit Sharma is the wealthiest. In contrast, the Independent candidate from the Purnea seat Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav has a maximum number of 41 criminal cases lodged against him.
According to the latest Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) report, out of a total of 50 candidates, 24% (12) have declared criminal cases against them with the Independent candidate from Purnea Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav topping the list with 41 cases. The heavyweight Pappu Yadav was also accused in the murder of CPIM leader and four-time MLA from Purnea Ajit Sarkar. Mr. Sarkar was murdered in broad daylight in June 1998 allegedly by Pappu Yadav and his gang members.
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Nine (18%) candidates have also declared serious criminal cases against them. The ruling alliance party JD(U) contesting all five seats, has 40% of candidates with criminal cases while 20% have serious criminal cases against them. The Opposition mahagthabandhan (grand alliance) alliance partner Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) contesting two seats, 50% of candidates have criminal and serious criminal cases. The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) contesting only one seat of Kishanganj in second phase, has 100% of candidates with criminal and serious criminal cases.
Similarly, 28% (14) of the candidates have declared assets worth more than ₹1 crore. The three Congress candidates Ajit Sharma from Bhagalpur, Mohd. Jawed from Kishanganj and Tariq Anwar from Katihar are the richest among all with assets of over ₹54 crore, over ₹18 crore and over ₹15 crore respectively while Independent candidate Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav from Purnea seat has assets of over ₹10 crore. They (Mr. Sharma, Mohd. Jawed and Pappu Yadav) have also declared their liabilities of ₹4 and ₹1 crore each respectively.
However, the JD(U) candidate from Purnea Santosh Kumar Kushwaha has vied along with Ajit Sharma and Mohd Jawed of the Congress party for the bracket of candidates with high income as declared in their Income Tax Return (ITR) for the year 2022-23.
Marang Hansada contesting from the Katihar seat on People Party of India (Democratic), Arun Das on the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) from the Purnea seat and the Independent candidate on the Kishanganj seat Mohd. Gufran Jamali are the top three candidates with low assets.
Only one candidate of them has declared himself as a Diploma holder, while 7 have declared themselves as just “literate” and 32% (16) candidates are educated up to Class 12, while, 26% (52) are graduates or above.
Out of a total of 50 contestants, 12 (24%) candidates have declared their age to be between 25-40 years while 31 (62%) are between 41-60 years and there are 7 (14%) candidates who have declared their age to be between 61-80 years. Similarly, only 3 (6%) female candidates are contesting the second phase of Lok Sabha poll in Bihar, said the ADR report.
