State parties liberal in ticket to tainted: ADR

Amaninder Pal

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 17

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has topped the list of parties in ticket allotment to those facing criminal cases, according to a report.

As per the data for the last 10 years released today by the Punjab Election Watch and the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR)for the 2009 and 2014 Lok Sabha elections and the 2007 and 2012 Assembly poll, 23 per cent of the SAD candidates had FIRs registered against them, followed by the Congress (15 per cent), the BJP and the BSP (10 per cent each). Eight per cent of the Akali nominees declared in their nomination papers that they were facing “serious criminal cases”, followed by the Congress (5 per cent), BSP (4 per cent) and the BJP (2 per cent).

Of the 118 MPs/MLAs elected on the SAD ticket, 19 per cent were facing criminal cases, ahead of the Congress (18 per cent), BJP (9 per cent) and BSP (3 per cent).