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BMC - 'Criminal' candidates in poll fray
Bhupen Patel
The upcoming BMC polls seem to be a blow to those fighting for clean politics, as a number of candidates have a criminal background.
Arshad Ansari, a key accused in the twin bomb blasts at the Gateway of India and Zaveri Bazaar, is contesting as an independent candidate in the BMC polls.
Sunil Ghate, who is a member of the Arun Gawli gang and is now under arrest under the stringent MCOCA law, is also contesting his second term from Byculla. Ghate is a sitting corporator from Gawli's party, the Akhil Bhartiya Sena.
Also Prakash Pawar, who is an accused in five murder cases, has also filed his nomination from Raj Thackeray's party.
In fact, nearly 20 per cent of the 2676 candidates contesting the BMC elections this year have a criminal record.
Right to participate
But the candidates argue that they have a right to be part of the political process.
"He wanted to campaign for himself, but since there is a threat to his life, we'll do it on his behalf," said S Kunjuraman, Arshad Ansari's Advocate.
Apart from the three mentioned above, other history-sheeters include:
- Sanjay Agaldare (Shiv Sena) - booked under MPDA
- Ashish Chemburkar (Shiv Sena) - murder accused
- Prakash Sawant (Shiv Sena) - charged with assault
- Manoj Sansare (RPI) - charged with extortion
- Mohsin Haider (SP) - faces extortion and assault charges
But what is really surprising about the political track record of criminal candidates is the fact that many of them end up winning, which is perhaps a sign of their stranglehold over their area.
In the last BMC polls, 44 candidates facing criminal charges ended up winning; consequently 20 per cent of Mumbai's sitting corporators have a tainted record.
More than half of them were from the Shiv Sena, and the rest were from the Congress, BJP and Samajwadi Party.
So while citizens groups are demanding cleaner candidates for political parties, it seems that crime and politics still remain a heady mix.
URL- http://www.ndtv.com/morenews/showmorestory.asp?category=National&slug=BMC%3A+'Criminal'+candidates+in+poll+fray&id=99582
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