Two of the three leading contestants in the Hisar by-elctions in Haryana have criminal cases pending against them.

Mr Ajay Singh Chautala of the Indian National Lok Dal has two cases against him and Mr Kuldip Bishnoi, Haryana Janhit Congress candidate, supported by the BJP, has one case. The Congress candidate, Jai Prakash's record is clean, according to their affidavits analysed by National Election Watch (NEW). The elections are due on October 13.

Out of the total 40 candidates in the fray, NEW analysed 15 affidavits, of which eight candidates had criminal cases pending against them.

Mr Bishnoi, son of former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal, had the highest assets worth Rs 48.85 crore, followed by Mr Chautala with assets worth Rs 40.16 crore. Mr Jai Prakash declared assets worth Rs 3.16 crore

Mr Bishnoi, who had contested elections in 2009,declared a rise in assets by over Rs 31.5 crore while Mr Chautala showed an increase by Rs 10.19 crore during the last two years. The Congress candidate showed an increase of Rs 2.5 crore. But, the percentage of asset rise was the highest for Mr Jai Prakash at 383 per cent, compared with 182 per cent for Mr Bishnoi and 34 per cent for Mr Chautala, says NEW.

At present, the State is run by a Congress Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda.