Election snapshot: From voter turnout to criminal cases against contestants

More women in the fray this time round and more candidates with criminal cases against them

Polling for five states —  Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Rajasthan, and Telangana — ended on Thursday with a voter turnout of 75 per cent and above except for the southern state.

Around 71 per cent of electors voted in Telangana, according to the Voter Turnout App by the Election Commission of India. In 2018, it was 74 per cent.

The voter turnout was the highest in Mizoram at 81 per cent (chart 1).

Women constitute one-tenth of the candidates in 2023, slightly higher than 8.6 per cent in 2018. In Chhattisgarh, 13.2 per cent of the contestants are women, the highest. Mizoram follows at 10.3 per cent and then comes Madhya Pradesh (10 per cent), Rajasthan (9.8 per cent) and Telangana (9.7 per cent). However, Mizoram has not elected a woman candidate since 2008. 

Among the two major national parties, the Congress has fielded more women candidates (10.8 per cent) than the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) (9.4 per cent). Around 35 per cent of the women are contesting independently (chart 2).

The average assets per candidate stood at Rs 3.4 crore in the five states, according to the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR). Mizoram is leading with Rs 4.9 crore, followed by Telangana (Rs 4.7 crore) and Rajasthan (Rs 3.1 crore). Madhya Pradesh recorded the maximum increase in average assets from 2018 (chart 3).

Around 29 per cent of candidates are millionaires.

Data from ADR shows that 18 per cent candidates from the five states have declared that they had criminal cases against them compared to 16 per cent in 2018. This number is the highest for Telangana, where 23 per cent of candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves, followed by MP (19 per cent) and Rajasthan (17 per cent) (chart 4).

The results for the five states will be declared on December 3.