At least 82 newly elected zilla parishad members in Odisha have criminal records and 65 of them are facing charges of serious offences such as attempt to murder and crime against women, as per the affidavits furnished by them with returning officers before the panchayat elections this year, a report said.

The highest number of ZP members having criminal cases is from the ruling BJD, it said.

Of the 82 members who have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits, 66 are from the BJD, seven from the Congress, six from the BJP, and one each from JMM and the CPI(M) and an independent member.

Fifty-three ZP representatives from the ruling BJD have charges of serious offences against them, followed by six from the Congress, four from the BJP, one from the JMM and an independent, the report said.

Of the 851 elected ZP members, affidavits of 726 were analysed by Odisha Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

The rest of the affidavits were not analysed as they were not available or uploaded on the state election commission website at the time of making the report, ADR member Ranjan Mohanty said.

The ratio of ZP representatives having criminal records is 11 per cent, the report said.

“At least 15 zilla parishad members are facing charges related to attempt to murder, while 12 have records of crimes against women,” it said.

Of the 726 zilla parishad members’ affidavits analysed, 95 are crorepatis.

The average size of assets of zilla parishad members is Rs 56.60 lakhs, the report said.

At least 451 zilla parishad members have declared that their educational qualifications range from class 5 to 12 pass, the report added.