MNS TOPS LIST OF PARTIES FIELDING CRIMINAL CANDIDATES

The three-year-old party MNS, best known for its anti-north Indian campaign, is going to perform better than other political parties by fielding more candidates with criminal cases pending against them for Maharashtra Assembly polls, a study conducted by an NGO, AGNI says. The study, conducted in 31 constituencies of Mumbai and Thane regions, revealed that 14 MNS candidates have criminal cases registered against them leaving arch rival Shiv Sena on 13. “Out of 354 candidates in fray in these 31 constituencies, 82 have criminal cases registered against them. One of the candidates Arun Gawli is convicted in seven cases,” trustee and election coordinator of AGNI Sharad Kumar revealed to the media persons.  The study also showed that the Congress has fielded the maximum number of rich candidates. “Congress has 16 candidates with assets of over one crore rupees. MNS is not behind, with 12 candidates having assets in crores. “Interestingly, the number of educated candidates is also large this time. Altogether, 26 are post-graduates and 65 graduates,” Kumar said.