Of the 265 candidates who have filed nominations for the Lok Sabha elections from various political parties in Telangana, 49 (18 per cent) have criminal cases against them, 33 candidates (12 per cent) have been booked for serious criminal cases that include attempt to murder, crimes against women and kidnapping.

Seventy-four (28 per cent) candidates are crorepatis and the average assets per candidate contesting from Telangana in the first phase of Lok Sabha elections is Rs.8.49 crore, revealed an analysis of the affidavits by AP Election Watch and Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR).

“It’s unfortunate that candidates with criminal records continue to be encouraged by political parties. The analysis of affidavits is an attempt to make voters aware of the background of candidates, which will eventually help them make informed decisions,” former Chief Secretary Kaki Madhava Rao said during the release of the report on Monday.

Six of the 16 Congress candidates, seven of the 17 TRS candidates and three of nine TDP candidates have criminal cases registered against them. Half the eight BJP candidates have been booked for criminal cases, while the YSRC, which has fielded 13 candidates, have three candidates with criminal records against them. Similarly, seven candidates from the TRS, three from the BJP one candidate each from Congress, TDP and YSRC have declared serious criminal charges registered against them.

“Thallapalli Srinivas, an independent from Peddapalle constituency has declared a case related to attempt to murder. Khalid Anwar of the BSP from Secunderabad and Md. Mohiuddin of the YSRC from Zaheerabad have cases related subjecting a woman to cruelty (IPC Section-498A),” Election Watch officials said.

There is also an abundance of ‘red alert’ constituencies, those which have three or more candidates with criminal cases contesting elections.