It pays well to be in the business of politics in Chhattisgarh

Of 143 candidates contesting in the 1st phase, 15 have criminal cases against them

Chhattisgarh is among the bottom five states in the country in socio-economic parameters. But if you are a politician there, then it is more than a profitable proposition.

An analysis of the 24 re-contesting candidates in the state reveals that the average assets of these candidates increased by 260 per cent in the last five years. Re-contesting candidates are those who participated in the 2008 Assembly elections and are again in the fray. The two-phase polls are scheduled for November in Chhattisgarh.

Among the political parties, the re-contesting candidates of the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) saw the highest increase of 360 per cent. The BJP has been in power in the state for two terms.

In the first phase of the elections, ten BJP candidates are re-contesting. As compared to the BJP, assets of the Opposition Congress increased by 90 per cent.

Overall, the average assets of the 143 contesting candidates was 58 lakh, with one-fifth of them having assets over Rs 1-crore. While the average assets of the 18 Congress candidates was Rs 1.75 crore, those of the 18 BJP candidates was Rs 1.34 crore. But, 42 per cent of the contesting candidates have not submitted their PAN details, and another 63 per cent have not declared annual income in their Income Tax Returns.

Criminal cases
Out of the 143 candidates contesting in the first phase of the elections, 15 candidates (10 per cent) have criminal cases against them.

Out of these 15, six have declared serious criminal cases, which include murder, kidnapping, criminal intimidation and crimes against women.

While the Congress has two of its 18 (11 per cent) candidates with criminal cases against them, the BJP has three out of 18 (17 per cent), the Bahujan Samaj Party has two out of 18 (11 per cent) candidates and Samajwadi Party has one out of five (20 per cent) candidates who have declared criminal cases in their affidavits.