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These assembly polls, Cong lost most candidates to other parties: ADR report
The report, which came out of the analysis of affidavits of 60 candidates and 51 MLAs who changed parties and contested the recent elections in these 4 states and a UT, says that the trend suggests that “private interest of politicians” is gaining over “interest of citizens”
During the recent assembly elections in Puducherry, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, Congress saw the most candidates leave the party, reveals a report by National Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR). The report also shows that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was their favourite destination.
The report, which came out of the analysis of affidavits of 60 candidates and 51 MLAs who changed parties and contested the recent elections in these 4 states and Union Territory of Puducherry, says that the trend suggests that “private interest of politicians” is gaining over “interest of citizens”.
Out of the 60 candidates who changed their parties, 8 were from Congress, followed by AIADMK, AIUDF and BJP which lost five candidates each.
As far as welcoming turncoats is concerned, the BJP inducted 20 of them. This was followed by Trinamool Congress which welcomed 8, and the Congress that inducted 5.
As many as 20 of the 51 MLAs who left their parties belonged to Congress. This was followed by 15 MLAs who left Trinamool Congress to join a different party to contest elections.
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Again, BJP topped the list by welcoming the most defectors. 20 out of 51 re-contesting MLAs joined the BJP followed by 17 who joined the Trinamool and 7 who joined AMMK.
A look at the financial assets also shows that it is mostly the monied politicians who have switched sides. Out of these 60 candidates, 29 are crorepatis with JD(U) defector MV Shreyams Kumar from Wayanad, who joined Loktantrik Janata Dal, being the richest. As per his latest election affidavit, Kumar owns assets worth 88 crore rupees.
Similarly, out of 51 MLAs who contested from other parties, 35 are crorepatis.
Pointing out the most plausible reasons behind such defections, the report mentions that the absence of value-based politics, non-existence of laws on functioning of political parties have led to “skewing of fundamental principles of Indian democracy”.
HT also analysed how these turncoats fared in the elections. Out of 60 candidates who changed parties, 39 lost the elections, with the highest being 19 from Bengal where 25 candidates had left their parties.
In Kerala, 7 candidates left their parties and 6 of them lost. Similarly in Tamil Nadu, 13 left and 8 of them lost. In Assam, 13 candidates left their parties but only 5 lost. In Puducherry, one of two defector candidates lost.
With regard to MLAs who changed parties and contested, 29 out of 51 lost elections.
