In a report released today, the Odisha Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) claimed that major political parties in the state had granted tickets to between 26% and 80% of the candidates who had filed criminal complaints against them for the phase II Assembly election. This, according to the ADR report, was against the Supreme Court’s mandate.

In its directives, the Supreme Court had explicitly asked political parties to explain this screening process and the reasons why candidates who had no criminal history could not be chosen. According to these essential rules, the candidate’s qualifications, accomplishments, and merit must be taken into consideration while making this kind of decision. However, ADR noted in its report that parties gave tickets to their nominees who had significant criminal histories for petty reasons. 14 out of 35 constituencies in the second phase of the Odisha polls are red alert areas, meaning that three or more of the candidates face criminal charges.

Phase II of the Odisha Assembly Elections features 265 candidates running in 35 constituencies. Of the 265 applicants, 87 (33%) had criminal cases against them according to their self-sworn affidavits. Up to 70 (or 26% of the nominees) have filed significant criminal cases against themselves, and five of them are accused of murder. There are allegations of up to 11 candidates engaging in crimes against women. In their affidavits, candidates from the major parties have declared significant criminal cases against themselves: 20 (57%) out of 35 BJP candidates, 12 (36%) out of 33 Congress candidates, 8 (23%) out of 35 BJD candidates, and 2 (20%) out of 10 AAP candidates.