By IANS,
New Delhi : The third phase of polls April 30 has a mixed bag of candidates with 258 nominees having criminal records and 223 millionaires, a study by an NGO said Monday.
According to an analysis by the National Election Watch (NEW), “of 1,567 candidates in the fray for the third phase, NEW analysed affidavits of 1,492 candidates. A total of 258 candidates were found to have criminal records.”
The NEW study found that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) topped the list of candidates with criminal records with 29 nominees closely followed by Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) with 28 candidates, a statement from NEW said.
The first phase and second phase of polls had 222 and 288 candidates with criminal records, respectively.
NEW comprises more than 1,200 NGOs and other organisations working on electoral reforms, improving democracy and governance in India.
“The Congress comes third with 26 candidates and the Samajwadi Party has 15. Among the states, Gujarat tops the list with 69 candidates with criminal background followed by Bihar with 54 and Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh with 36 candidates each,” the analysis revealed.
“There are 117 candidates charged with heinous crimes. Of these, Samajwadi Party has the maximum (13) candidates charged with these crimes.”
A total of 223 millionaires are contesting elections in the third phase. Congress has 58, followed by BJP with 42, BSP with 21 and Samajwadi Party with 13,” the study said.
“At least 59.6 percent candidates have not furnished their PAN card details and the number of women candidates is 101 out of 1,567. About 40 percent of candidates are graduates, post graduates or with doctorates,” the statement said.