Fourteen of them have criminal cases pending against them, according to an analysis by the National Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) of the candidates’ self-sworn affidavits.

Industrialist Rajkumar Dhoot, a Shiv Sena candidate from Maharashtra, is among the two candidates who have declared serious criminal charges, such as murder, kidnapping and crime against women, an ADR release said.

Fifty candidates are crorepatis, with average assets of ₹44.74 crore.

BJP candidates had the highest average assets of ₹85.36 crore, followed by Congress with ₹42.32 crore, Nationalist Congress Party with ₹23.02 crore and CPM with ₹21.99 lakh.

Ravindra Kishore Sinha of BJP from Bihar declared the highest assets worth Rs. ₹857.11 crore, followed by Kakde Sanjay Dattatraya, independent candidate from Maharashtra, with Rs. ₹425.65 crore.

Incidentally, Reddy is among the 21 re-contesting candidates who have shown the highest growth in assets (up ₹164.19 crore in six years). The assets of Adala Prabhakar Reddy, an independent candidate from Andhra Pradesh, grew ₹67.17 crore.

Forty-two of 58 candidates, or 72 per cent, are graduates or above, while 67 per cent or 39 candidates are aged 51-70 years. There are only seven women — two each fielded by the AIADMK and the Congress.