The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has revealed that 10% of the winning candidates in the Jammu & Kashmir Assembly Elections 2024 have declared criminal cases against themselves.
According to KNS, Out of 90 candidates, 9 have disclosed criminal records, an increase from the 2014 elections when only 6% of MLAs faced similar allegations.
Among those with declared criminal cases is Randhir Singh, a BJP candidate from the Kalakote constituency, who has declared one case against himself. He faces serious charges under various IPC sections, including criminal breach of trust and forgery.
Another candidate, Mehraj Malik from the AAP, presents a more troubling profile, with 6 declared criminal cases, including charges related to criminal intimidation and promoting enmity between different groups.
Vikram Randhawa, also from the BJP, has declared 4 cases, which include serious charges related to public mischief and disobedience to orders issued by public servants.
Sajad Gani Lone from the Jammu & Kashmir People Conference has maintained a clean record.
The analysis reveals that 5 out of 42 winning candidates from the JKNC (12%) have declared criminal records, while 2 out of 29 candidates from the BJP (7%) have similar declarations.
The report also shows that 1 out of 3 candidates from JKPDP (33%) and 1 out of 1 from AAP (100%) have serious charges against them.(KNS)
