Lok Sabha elections are beginning April 19. Several candidates have declared criminal cases against them. Take a look at those parties which have fielded such candidates for the electorates to choose from.

The Supreme Court had in 2020 instructed the political parties to put forth reasons for the selection of candidates with criminal cases against their names and why other individuals without criminal antecedents could not be selected as candidates. However, according to the latest ADR report, nearly 16 per cent of the candidates across parties in the fray for the first phase of Lok Sabha polls on April 19 have declared their criminal cases to the Election Commission of India. Out of the analysis of 1,618 candidates, 252 of them have declared criminal cases against themselves. 161 have declared serious criminal cases against their names.

Criteria for serious criminal cases:

• Offence for which maximum punishment is of 5 years or more.
• If an offence is non-bailable
• If it is an electoral offence (for eg. IPC 171E or bribery)
• Offence related to loss to exchequer
• Offences that are assault, murder, kidnap, rape related
• Offences that are mentioned in Representation of the People Act (Section 8)
• Offences under Prevention of Corruption Act
• Crimes against women

Candidates with other criminal cases:

• 15 candidates have declared cases in which they have been convicted.
• There are 7 candidates who have declared cases related to murder (IPC Section -302) against themselves.
• As many as 19 candidates have declared cases related to attempt to murder (IPC Section 307) against themselves.
• There are 18 candidates who have declared cases related to crime against women. Out of 18 Candidates, 1 candidate has declared cases related to rape (IPC Section-376).
• 35 candidates have declared cases related to hate speech against themselves.

Party-wise candidates with criminal cases:

According to the ADR report, among major parties, 4 (100 per cent) out of 4 candidates from RJD, 13 (59 per cent) out of 22 candidates from DMK, 3 (43 per cent) out of 7 candidates from SP, 2 (40 per cent) out of 5 candidates from AITC, 28 (36 per cent) out of 77 candidates from BJP, 13 (36 per cent) out of 36 candidates from AIADMK, 19 (34 per cent) out of 56 candidates from INC and 11 (13 per cent) out of 86 candidates from BSP have declared criminal cases against themselves.

Parties with candidates with serious criminal cases:

Among the major parties, 2 (50 per cent) out of 4 candidates from RJD, 6 (27 per cent) out of 22 candidates from DMK, 2 (29 per cent) out of 7 candidates from SP, 1 (20 per cent) out of 5 candidates from AITC, 14 (18 per cent) out of 77 candidates from BJP, 6 (17 per cent) out of 36 candidates from AIADMK, 8 (14 per cent) out of 56 candidates from INC and 8 (9 per cent) out of 86 candidates from BSP have declared serious criminal cases against themselves.

Here are parties with most number of candidates having criminal cases

• BJP: 28
• Congress: 19
• AIADMK: 13
• DMK: 13
• CPI: 2
• CPIM: 3
• AAP: 1
• Shiv Sena: 1
• NCP (SP): 1