All the candidates of the YSR Congress party in the fray in the eighth round of polling for the Lok Sabha elections on Wednesday are crorepatis, followed by the Telugu Desam Party nominees (95 per cent).

More than 30 per cent of the over 890 candidates contesting in seven States in this phase are crorepatis, and over 20 per cent of them have criminal cases against them.

Jayadev Galla of TDP from Guntur is the richest candidate, with total declared assets of ₹683 crore, followed by Ayodhya Rami Reddy Alla of YSR Congress from Narasaraopet with ₹654-crore assets and Gokaraju Ganga Raju of BJP from Narsapuram (₹288 crore).

In Bihar, 95 per cent of the candidates fielded by the Lalu Prasad-led Rashtriya Janata Dal are crorepatis, followed by the Congress at 76 per cent, the Samjawadi Party (71 per cent) and the BJP (70 per cent), according to an analysis by the Association of Democratic Reforms of the affidavits submitted by the candidates to the Election Commission.

A total of 54 per cent of candidates (483 out of 890) have not declared their income-tax details, though some of them may have been exempted from filing returns.

Criminal cases

As for criminal background, 32 candidates declared cases of attempt to murder, of which eight candidates declared cases related to crimes against women.

The Bahujan Samaj Party candidate from Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh has even declared rape charges against himself.

Bihar tops

The highest number of candidates with criminal charges are in Bihar (31 per cent), Himachal Pradesh (24 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (22 per cent), West Bengal (21 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (17 per cent) and Uttarakhand (nine per cent ).

Party-wise, criminal cases have been declared by 13 out of 58 Congress candidates, 14 out of 40 BJP nominees, 10 out of 43 Aam Aadmi Party candidates and 21 out 60 BSP nominees.