New Delhi, September 8
Criminalisation of politics continues unabated, with political parties fielding several tainted candidates for the forthcoming assembly by-elections to the states of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Delhi.

A National Election Watch study of the affidavits of 202 of the 329 contestants in the fray in all states has revealed 64 candidates with self-declared criminal cases pending against them.

This makes up 31 per cent of the candidates for whom affidavits were available. Of the 64 candidates booked under different IPC sections, 15 face charges for murder and attempt to murder, with Bihar topping the list.

Analysis of the data gathered shows that Bihar also leads others in the final tally, with 36 per cent (45 out of 123) of its candidates for the September 10 and 15 assembly byelections facing criminal charges. Gujarat follows with 9 such candidates out of 24.

Interestingly, head of the ruling alliance, the Indian National Congress has given maximum tickets to tainted candidates for the coming byelections. Of its 31 contestants, 13 (42 per cent) are facing criminal charges. Ally Lalu Prasad Yadav’s RJD comes a close second, having given tickets to 9 tainted persons out of 12 it had fielded.

BJP and JDU have fielded five tainted candidates each, making up 29.41 per cent and 45.45 per cent of the total.

On the front of fielding candidates with serious criminal charges, Congress leads the pack with six, followed by RJD and JDU at 4 each; CPI at 3, NCP, Lok Janshakti Party and CPM at two each, and BJD at one.

Of the 15 candidates facing murder and attempt to murder cases in all, 13 are contesting from Bihar alone; one each in Delhi and Gujarat. In fact, the highest number of candidates with criminal background - 7 — is in the fray from Begusarai in Bihar followed by six such candidates in Nautan, also in Bihar.

So far as assets go, there are 19 candidates with wealth over Rs one crore, Congress having the maximum number of richest candidates - 5 out of 31. Following the Congress is its alliance partner NCP, with two of its seven candidates having assets over Rs one crore. BJP, JDU and RJD come next.