Gujarat assembly elections 2022: Those with criminal records twice as likely to win than those without, says ADR analysis

AHMEDABAD: An analysis by the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) of elections held in Gujarat since 2004 shows that candidates with criminal backgrounds had greater chances of winning than clean candidates.
The winning chances of those with criminal cases against them was 20% while of those with clean records was only 10%, the analysis shows. Party-wise analysis indicates that the BJP was the only party with nearly the same winning chances for candidates with and without criminal cases against them — analysis of 684 candidates and 442 MLAs/MPs showed those with criminal records had 63% winning chances and those without had 65% chances.

For the Congress, those with criminal records had 38% chances of winning and candidates with clean records had 33% chances.The analysis indicated that 44% of the MPs and MLAs who were graduates and above and 52% of those who had studied up to class 12 or below had criminal cases. Likewise, the average worth of assets of MPs and MLAs with graduate or higher degrees was Rs 4.4 crore.