At least 14 per cent of the candidates contesting the Uttarakhand Assembly election have criminal cases registered against them.  

While the BJP leads with 27 percent, the ruling Congress follows close with 24 per cent of its candidates having criminal cases against them.  

These are some of the findings of Delhi-based think tank Association for Democratic Reforms' (ADR) latest report on candidates who are set to fight it out in the Uttarakhand election.

Uttarakhand, which has a 70-member assembly, will go to polls on February 15.

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THE FINDINGS OF ADR REPORT

Candidates with criminal cases: Out of the 637 candidates analysed, 91 (or 14 per cent) have declared criminal cases.

Party-wise candidates with criminal cases: Nineteen (27 per cent) out of the 70 candidates declared by the BJP have criminal cases registered against them. For the Congress, it is 17 (24 per cent) out of 70 candidates.

• Ten per cent of the 69 candidates of the Bahujan Samaj Party have declared criminal cases, followed by 7 per cent for Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) which is fielding 55 candidates.
• Two (10 per cent) out of the 20 candidates of the Samajwadi Party have criminal cases against them.
• Among 261 Independent candidates, 32 (12 per cent) have criminal cases registered against them.

Candidates with serious criminal cases: Fifty-four or 8 per cent candidates have declared serious criminal cases.

Candidates with cases related to murder: Five candidates have declared cases related to murder (under IPC Section 302).

Candidates with cases related to attempt to murder: Five candidates have declared cases related to attempt to murder (under IPC Section 307).

Candidates with cases related to crimes against women: Five candidates have declared cases related to crimes against women.

Party-wise candidates with serious criminal cases: Twelve (17 per cent) of the Congress' candidates, and 10 (14 per cent) of the BJP's candidates have cases registered against them.

• Mayawati-led BSP has 9 per cent of its candidates with serious criminal cases against them while for the Samajwadi Party the figure stands at 10 per cent, and for UKD it is 6 per cent.
• Among Independent candidates, 5 per cent have declared serious criminal cases including murder, attempt to murder, crime against women, kidnapping in their affidavits.

Red-alert constituencies: Ten constituencies have three or more candidates with declared criminal cases contesting the election.