This reflects with the candidates presently contesting in the Rajya Sabha elections from various states. As many as 16, almost 25 per cent, of the total candidates have declared criminal cases pending against them. Among them, half of the candidates, or 13 per cent, have declared serious criminal cases against them such as kidnapping, attempt to murder, robbery etc.

With regards to money power, among the 63 candidates analysed, a maximum number of 55 candidates, or 87 per cent, are crorepatis. Among the major parties 26 (90 per cent) out of the 29 candidates are from the BJP, 10 (91 per cent) out of 11 candidates from the Congress, 3 (75 per cent) out of 4 candidates from the AITC, 3 (100 per cent) out of 3 from the TRS, 2 (100 per cent) out of 2 candidates from the JD(U) and 1 (100 per cent) out of 1 from the SP have declared assets worth more than Rs 1 crore.

The average assets of 63 candidates analysed are worth Rs 122.13 crore. The National Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms analysed the self-sworn affidavits of 63 out of the 64 candidates contesting in the Rajya Sabha elections to be held on 23rd March, 2018 for 58 seats in 16 states.

One candidate namely Dhiraj Kumar Sahu (INC) contesting from Jharkhand has not been analysed as his affidavit was badly scanned. The candidate with the highest declared total assets is Mahendra Prasad of the JD(U) contesting from Bihar with assets worth Rs 4078.40 crore.

The candidate with the lowest declared total assets is Achyutananda Samananta (BJD) contesting from Odisha with assets worth Rs 4.96 lakh. A total of 41(65 per cent) candidates have declared liabilities out of which the candidate with the highest liabilities is Jaya Amitabh Bachchan (SP) contesting from Uttar Pradesh with Rs 105.64 crore in liabilities. Thirteen candidates have declared total annual income of more than Rs 1 crore.