Out of 719 candidates contesting in the second phase of the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, about 107 (15%) have mentioned criminal cases against themselves, according to a joint report by Uttar Pradesh Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR). BSP tops the chart with 25 (37%) out of its 67 candidates having declared criminal cases against them in their affidavits, followed by Samajwadi Party 21 (41%) out of 51 candidates.

While 16 (24%) out of 67 candidates from the BJP, six (33%) out of 18 candidates are from the Congress, and 13 (6 %) out of 206 Independent candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

Of 107 candidates, 66 have serious criminal cases against them which include charges of murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping and crimes against women among others.

A total of 17 (25%) out of 67 candidates from the BSP, 10 (15%) out of 67 candidates from the BJP, 17 (33%) out of 51 candidates from the SP, six (12%) out of 52 candidates from the RLD, four (22%) out of 18 candidates from Congress and 12 (six %) out of 206 Independent candidates have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits

There are six candidates who have charges of murder on them, 15 are accused of attempt to murder, and seven candidates have been booked for kidnapping for ransom, etc while five have declared cases related to assault or using criminal force against woman with an intent to outrage her modesty and rape.

Ali Yusuf Ali, who is contesting on a BSP ticket in Chamraua (Rampur), with 14 cases and serious charges of criminal intimidation, Assault or criminal force on grave provocation, Obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions, Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant and Illegal payments in connection with an election among others, tops the list of candidates with criminal background.

Vishva Dayal from Congress in Rampur Maniharan constituency of Saharanpur district has 10 cases against including those of Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty, voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty, among others. Another Congress candidate from Nawabganj (Bareilly), Mohd Tahir, has nine cases criminal cases against him, while two BJP candidates, Ashok Kumar Rana contesting from Dhampur (Bijnor) and Arvind Giri contesting from Gola Gokrannath (Kheri) have declared eight cases each in their affidavits.

As high as 43% (310 out of 719) of candidates have declared their educational qualification as graduates, while 39% (277) candidates have declared their educational qualification to be between class V and XII. There are 11 illiterate candidates as well. There are just 69 (10%) women candidates in the poll fray in the second phase.