Watch: Key Stats for Phase 1 of Gujarat Assembly Polls 2017
How many criminals and how many crorepati candidates are contesting in the 2017 Gujarat Assembly polls?
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Phase 1 of Gujarat Assembly polls are on 9 December, when the voters in 89 constituencies will decide who their next Chief Minister will be. A total of 977 candidates from four national parties – Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) – 16 regional parties and 416 Independent candidates will try their luck.
Of these 416 candidates, 104 candidates have criminal charges slapped against them. 31 of them belong to Congress party. BJP is a close second with 22 candidates. BSP comes third with 11 candidates, followed by NCP and AAP with 4 and 2 respectively. 34 Independent candidates also have criminal charges against them.
Meanwhile, 198 candidates are ‘crorepati’ candidates, which means they have declared their assets worth more than Rs 1 crore. BJP leads the chart in this category with 76 candidates. Congress finishes second with 60 candidates. NCP, AAP and BSP follow suit. 25 independent candidates also have declared assets more than worth Rs 1 crore.
These are, however, the details of just the candidates in phase 1 of Gujarat polls. Polling for second phase is scheduled on 14 December when the voters will vote on remaining 93 seats. The results for both the phases will be declared on 18 December along with Himachal Pradesh results.
Will the Congress, led by a rejuvenated Rahul Gandhi, make a comeback after 22 years and pull off a massive upset in PM Modi’s home turf? Or will the Modi factor be enough for BJP to counter the 22-year anti-incumbency?
Video Editor: Purnendu Pritam
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