Almost half of the candidates of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Delhi have criminal cases against them, suggests a study by the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR).

The ADR study says 31  of the BJP’s 68 candidates, or 46 per cent have pending criminal cases. 32 per cent of these cases have been termed ‘serious’, including crimes such as kidnapping, rape, murder etc. Percentage of BJP candidates with criminal cases is higher than the total average of 16 per cent. However, compared to 2008, candidates with criminal background have increased from 14 per cent. Among other political parties, 21 per cent of the candidates from the Congress and seven per cent from the Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) have candidates with a criminal background.

Financial details
Total number of candidates with assets above Rs 1 crore has jumped from 2008. In the upcoming elections, 33 per cent of the total candidates have assets with a combined worth of more than Rs 1 crore, while in 2008, it was 23 per cent. Among political parties, the average assets per candidate was highest for Congress with Rs 14.25 crore.

BJP candidates had average assets of Rs 8.16 crore, and AAP candidates had average asserts of Rs 2.51 crore.