Of the 680 candidates from various political parties contesting in the phase four of Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections, which is scheduled to be held on February 23, 116 candidates (17%) have criminal cases filed against them, as per a report by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
The report analysed the ‘affidavits’ of all 680 candidates from 98 political parties, including 6 national parties, 5 state parties, 87 unrecognized parties and 200 independent candidates contesting in the fourth phase of Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections to be held on February 23, 2017. The criteria for criminal offence include assault, murder, kidnap, rape, and cases mentioned in Representation of the People Act (Section 8).
Of 48 BJP candidates contesting in phase 4 of Uttar Pradesh elections, 19 (40%) were found to have criminal cases filed against them. From Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party, 13 (39%) out of 33 candidates are charged with criminal cases. Apart from that, 12 (23%) candidates out of 53 candidates from Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), 9 (23%) out of 39 candidates from Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), and 8 (32%) candidates out of 25 candidates from Indian National Congress (INC) have a criminal background.
Here’s a complete breakdown of the ADR report of candidates with declared criminal cases:
| S. No | Party | Candidates contesting in Phase 4 | Candidates with Serious Criminal Cases (%) |
| 1 | Bahujan Samaj Party | 53 | 12 (23%) |
| 2 | Bharatiya Janata Party | 48 | 19 (40%) |
| 3 | Rashtriya Lok Dal | 39 | 9 (23%) |
| 4 | Samajwadi Party | 33 | 13 (39%) |
| 5 | Indian National Congress | 25 | 8 (32%) |
| 6 | Lok Dal | 12 | 2 (17%) |
| 7 | Peace Party | 4 | 1 (25%) |
| 8 | Communist Party of India | 16 | 5 (32%) |
| 9 | Independent | 200 | 24 (12%) |
| 10 | Others | 250 | 23 (10%) |
| Total | 680 | 116 |
As per the ADR report, 95 (14%) of the contesting candidates have serious criminal cases against them, including cases related to murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, crimes against women etc.
Candidates with serious criminal cases:
10 (19%) out of 53 candidates from BSP, 14 (29%) out of 48 candidates from BJP, 8 (21%) out of 39 candidates from RLD, and 10(30%) out of 33 candidates from SP have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their declared affidavits.
| S. No | Party | Candidates contesting in Phase 4 | Candidates with Serious Criminal Cases (%) |
| 1 | Bahujan Samaj Party | 53 | 10 (19%) |
| 2 | Bharatiya Janata Party | 48 | 14 (29%) |
| 3 | Rashtriya Lok Dal | 39 | 8 (21%) |
| 4 | Samajwadi Party | 33 | 10 (30%) |
| 5 | Indian National Congress | 25 | 5 (20%) |
| 6 | Independent | 200 | 19 (10%) |
Campaigning for the fourth phase of Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections ended on Tuesday, February 21. 53 Assembly constituencies spread over 12 districts of Uttar Pradesh including Rae Bareli, Allahabad, Pratapgarh, Jhansi, Lalitpur, Mahoba, Banda, Hamirpur, Chitrakoot and Fatehpur will go to polls on February 23.
The campaigning for the fourth phase witnessed high profile politicians such as Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and BSP supremo Mayawati launching scathing attacks on each other. A total of 680 candidates, including 50 women, are representing various political parties in the fourth phase of UP polls.
