Voters have rejected all but two candidates who have cases registered against them under Section 376 (punishment for rape) of the Indian Penal Code. The ones who managed to win despite cases against them are Saumitra Khan from West Bengal and Madhavaneni Raghunandan Rao from Telangana.
Saumitra Khan won from West Bengal's Bishnupur constituency by 5,567 votes on a BJP ticket and Madhavaneni Raghunandan Rao also won on the saffron party ticket from Telangana's Medak by 39,139 votes.
According to the poll rights body Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), 1,643 candidates have criminal cases registered against them.
Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S)candidate Prajwal Revanna, who has been in the news for all wrong reasons, including being accused of assaulting several women, lost the Hassan Lok Sabha seat However, some candidates accused of serious crimes faced defeat. Prajwal Revanna, a Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) candidate accused of assaulting several women, lost the Hassan Lok Sabha seat to Congress leader Shreyas Patel by 42,649 votes.
The JDS leader, grandson of former Prime Minister Deve Gowda and nephew of former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy, was defeated by Congress leader Shreyas Patel by 42,649 votes.
In addition, some candidates facing serious criminal charges, such as attempts to murder and hate speech, have also emerged victorious. For example, Shantanu Thakur from the BJP, who won from West Bengal's Bangaon, has charges related to attempts to murder and promote enmity, hatred or ill-will between communities.
Of the 8,337 candidates in Lok Sabha Elections 2024 analysed by ADR, 1,643 (20 per cent) have declared criminal cases against themselves.
About 1,191 (14 per cent) candidates contesting in Lok Sabha Elections 2024 have declared serious criminal cases, including charges related to rape, murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, crimes against women etc.
The BJP's West Bengal unit chief Sukanta Majumdar, who retained his Balurghat seat, has 30 serious cases against him.
Another BJP candidate, Dulu Mahato, who won from Jharkhand's Dhanbad, has 22 serious cases, including those related to criminal intimidation and attempt to murder, registered against him.
Kamlesh Paswan, who won from Uttar Pradesh's Bansgaon constituency, has 16 serious cases, including attempted murder, registered against him.
The Samajwadi Party's Rambhual Nishad, who defeated the BJP's Maneka Gandhi from Uttar Pradesh's Sultanpur seat, has 12 serious cases against him.
About 20 per cent of the candidates declared criminal cases, marking an increase from 19 per cent in 2019, 17 per cent in 2014, and 15 per cent in 2009.
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