A total of 210 candidates contesting in phase four of the Lok Sabha elections face criminal charges, with 158 having serious cases and 12 of them convicted cases, according to the National Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
Five candidates have declared cases related to murder, 24 have declared cases related to attempt to murder, four have declared cases related to kidnapping, 21 have declared cases related to crime against women and 16 candidates have declared cases related to hate speech.
The ADR has analysed the self-sworn affidavits of 928 out of 943 candidates contesting in the Lok Sabha phase four across 71 constituencies in eight states.
"There are 15 candidates who have not been analyzed due to unavailability of properly scanned and complete affidavits, at the time of making this report," the ADR said in a statement.
It said 210 out of 928 candidates analysed face criminal charges.
"A total of 158 out of 928 candidates analysed have declared serious criminal cases and 12 candidates have declared convicted cases."
In terms of parties, 25 out of 57 candidates from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), 18 out of 57 candidates from Congress, 11 out of 54 candidates from Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), 12 out of 21 candidates analysed from Shiv Sena and 60 out of 345 Independent candidates have declared criminal cases.
"Among the major parties, 20 out of 57 candidates from BJP, 9 out of 57 candidates from Congress, 10 out of 54 candidates from BSP, 9 out of 21 candidates analysed from Shiv Sena and 45 out of 345 Independent candidates have declared serious criminal cases," the statement said.
It also noted that 37 out of 71 constituencies have three or more contesting candidates who have face criminal charges.
