New Delhi: A total of 916 candidates contesting the October 21 Assembly poll have declared criminal cases against themselves, up from 798 in 2014, according to a joint report.
The report by the Maharashtra Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has said of the 916 candidates, 600 have declared serious criminal cases, while 27 have declared convicted cases.
“In 2014 Maharashtra Assembly Election, out of 2,336 candidates analysed, 798 had declared criminal cases against themselves, while 537 candidates had declared serious criminal cases against themselves,” the report said.
The Maharashtra Election Watch and ADR have analysed the self-sworn affidavits of 3,112 of the 3,237 candidates, who are contesting in the poll.
“There are 125 candidates who have not been analysed due to the unavailability of their complete and properly scanned affidavits on the Election Commission website at the time of making the report,” it said.
The report said 96 of the 162 candidates analysed from the BJP, 83 of the 147 candidates analysed from Congress and 75 of the 124 candidates analysed from Shiv Sena have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.
“Also, 73 of the 116 candidates analysed from the NCP, 49 of 99 candidates analysed from MNS, 52 of 246 candidates analysed from BSP and 280 of 1,359 Independent candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits."
The report says in terms of serious criminal cases, 59 of 162 candidates analysed from the BJP, 44 of 147 candidates analysed from Congress and 59 of the 124 candidates analysed from SHS have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.
“A total of 40 of 116 candidates analysed from the NCP, 34 of 99 candidates analysed from the MNS, 41 of 246 candidates analysed from the BSP and 193 of 1,359 Independents have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in affidavits.”
Also, 67 candidates have declared cases related to crime against women and four candidates have declared cases related to rape.
“A total of 19 candidates have declared cases related to murder against themselves, while 60 candidates have declared cases related to attempt to murder."
Of the total 288 constituencies, 176 are Red Alert Constituencies — those where three or more contesting candidates with declared criminal cases against themselves.
