Among the major political parties, 28 out of 51 (55%) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates and 8 out of 25 (32%) Congress candidates have criminal cases filed against them

As many as 180 candidates (21%) of the total 866 contesting in the upcoming phase 6 of the ongoing Lok Sabha polls face criminal charges, a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and the National Election Watch on Thursday revealed.

Voting for phase six of the Lok Sabha polls will take place on May 25.

Out of the total, 141 (16%) candidates have declared serious criminal cases against them.

The analysis was based on the self-sworn affidavits of 866 out of 869 candidates contesting in phase 6.

Among the major political parties, 28 out of 51 (55%) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates and 8 out of 25 (32%) Congress candidates have criminal cases filed against them.

All candidates contesting for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) have cases against them.

For Samajwadi Party (SP), Biju Janata Dal (BJD), and All India Trinamool Congress (AITC), the percentages are 75, 33 and 44 respectively.

The report also pointed out the financial status of the candidates with 338 candidates (39%) being crorepatis.

Out of 70 candidates, BJP has fielded 48 candidates with assets over ₹1 crore while the Congress has 20 (80%) crorepati candidates.

The average asset per candidate is ₹6.21 crore. The BJP has 51 candidates whose average assets per candidate is ₹42.21 crore while 25 Congress candidates have average assets to the tune of ₹15.13 crore.