New Delhi: The Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), both Mumbai-based parties, lead the pack when it comes to yet again naming candidates with a criminal background in the coming general elections, according to the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
While six parties have declared 203 candidates in their first lists, details are available for only 70 candidates, who have already contested elections in the past, said the ADR, a civil society group campaigning for honesty and transparency in politics.
While the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has the most number of "criminal candidates" at 13 out of 32 (41 percent), Shiv Sena and NCP beat it in percentage terms, an analysis of the candidates' affidavits by the group show.
"Shiv Sena has 12 out of 14 candidates (86 percent) with criminal cases, BJP has 13 out of 32 (41 percent) candidates with criminal cases, and NCP has eight out of 13 (62 percent) candidates with criminal cases.
The AIADMK has one out of 6 (17 percent) candidates with criminal cases,” the ADR said.
