he high stakes battle in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) Elections 2022 in the national capital came to an end with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) sweeping the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) out of power by ending its 15-year-old rule on civic bodies. Out of the 248 winning candidates analysed in 2022, 42 (17%) winning candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves and 19 (8%) winners have declared serious criminal cases against themselves, as per a report conducted by The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Delhi Election Watch.
During the 2017 MCD elections, 26 (10%) of the 266 councillors analysed had declared criminal cases against themselves and 14 (5%) declared serious criminal cases against themselves. One winning candidate has declared case of attempt to murder (IPC Section-307) and three winning candidates have declared cases of crime against women, such as assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty (IPC Section-354) and related to Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty (IPC Section-498A) etc. 27 (21%) out of 132 winning candidates from AAP, 12 (12%) out of 104 winning candidates from BJP, 2(67%) out of 3 Independent winning candidates and 1 (11%) out of 9 winning candidates from INC have declared criminal cases against themselves, whereas 12 (9%) out of 132 winning candidates from AAP, 6 (6%) out of 104 winning candidates from BJP and 1(33%) out of 3 Independent winning candidates have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits. Analysing the financial background of the candidates, it was found that 167 (67%) out of the 248 winning candidates are crorepatis. 82 (79%) out of 104 candidates from the BJP, 77 (58%) out of 132 candidates from the AAP, 6 (67%) out of 9 candidates from the INC, and 2 (67%) out of 3 independent winning candidates have declared assets worth more than Rs 1 crore.
The average winning candidate in the MCD Elections 2022 has Rs 4.33 crore in assets. The average asset per winning candidate for 104 BJP candidates is Rs 5.29 crore, Rs 3.56 crore for 132 AAP candidates, Rs 4.09 crore for 9 INC candidates, and Rs 5.53 crore for 3 independent candidates. Speaking about their educational qualification, 126 (51%) winning candidates have declared their qualification to be between the 5th and 12th grade, while 116 (47%) winning candidates have declared having an educational qualification of graduate and above. Four winning candidates are diploma holders, and two winning candidates are illiterate. 84 (34%) winning candidates have declared their age to be between 21 and 40 years, while 164 (66%) winning candidates have declared their age to be between 41 and 70 years.
If we talk about gender, out of the 248 winning candidates analysed, 132 (53%) are women, and one transgender candidate from AAP (Bobi) has won from Sultanpuri-A ward. In 2017, 139 (52%) of the 266 councillors were women.
