As many as 156 candidates competing in the first phase of the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections have declared criminal cases against themselves, of which 121 face serious charges, according to a report by Uttar Pradesh Election Watch and the Association for Democratic Reforms.

The report has analyzed the affidavits of 615 candidates of the 623 who appear for Phase 1 of Elections in Uttar Pradesh which will take place in 58 constituencies spanning 11 districts on February 10.

“Of 615 candidates analyzed, 156 (25%) candidates have declared criminal cases against them… 121 (20%) have declared serious criminal cases”, the report said.

In addition, at least 12 candidates have declared cases related to crimes against women, and of these, one candidate, RLD’s Mohammad Yunus running for Bulandshahr, has declared cases related to rape (IPC Section 376).

A total of six candidates have declared cases related to murder (IPC section 302) against themselves, while 30 candidates have declared cases related to “attempted murder” (IPC section 307).

More than 50% of constituencies (31 of 58) are red alert constituencies, where three or more contending candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves.

Siwalkhas constituencies in Meerut and Kheragarh in Agra have six candidates each with criminal cases, while Hapur’s Dholana, Ghaziabad’s Loni, Shamli’s Thana Bhawan and Meerut constituencies have five candidates each with criminal cases.

As for political parties, the Samajwadi Festival (SP) has the highest percentage, around 75%, of candidates with criminal cases, followed by Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD).

A total of 21 of 28 analyzed candidates from the SP, 17 of 29 candidates (59%) analyzed from the RLD, and 29 of 57 candidates (51%) analyzed from the BJP have criminal cases.

In addition, 21 of the 58 (36%) analyzed Congressional candidates and 19 of the 56 (34%) analyzed BSP candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits. Eight of the 52 candidates (15%) analyzed by the AAP have declared criminal cases.

In terms of candidates with serious criminal cases, SP leads with 17 of 28 candidates (61%) declaring such cases against themselves. Up to 15 of 29 candidates (52%) analyzed from the RLD, 22 of 57 candidates (39%) from the BJP, 11 of 58 candidates (19%) from the Congress, 16 of 56 candidates (29%) from the BSP and five from the 52 candidates (10%) of the AAP have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits, according to the report.

Only 12% of the total number of candidates competing in the first phase of the Uttar Pradesh elections are women.

At least 73 candidates have declared that they are between 61 and 80 years old, while 214 have declared that they are between 25 and 40 years old. A total of 328 candidates have declared that they are between 41 and 60 years of age.

The report added that 239 candidates have declared their educational qualifications to be between Classes 5 and 12, while 304 candidates have declared to have an educational qualification of Graduate or higher.

“Seven candidates are diploma holders and 38 candidates have declared themselves literate,” the report says, adding that 15 candidates are illiterate and 12 candidates have not given their educational qualification.

The report also said that of the 615 candidates analyzed, 280 (46%) are crorepatis. At least 97% of BJP and RLD candidates are crorepatis.

BJP’s Amit Agarwal, running from Meerut Cantt, has the highest declared assets in Phase 1. The average assets per candidate running in the first phase of the Uttar Pradesh elections is Rs 3.72 crore.

“The role of the power of money in our elections is evident from the fact that all major political parties award tickets to wealthy candidates. Among the major parties, 28 (97%) of 29 analyzed candidates from RLD, 55 (97%) of 57 analyzed candidates from BJP, 50 (89%) of 56 analyzed candidates from BSP, 23 (82%) of 28 analyzed candidates scrutinized from SP, 32 (55%) out of 58 scrutinized candidates from Congress and 22 (42%) out of 52 scrutinized candidates from AAP have declared assets valued at more than Rs 1 crore,” the report added.