According to the report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and the National Election Watch, out of the 1,710 candidates contesting the Phase-4 of Lok Sabha elections, around 360 are facing criminal charges. Serious criminal cases, which include offences carrying a maximum punishment of five years or more, were reported in 16% of the total candidates. These serious charges encompass non-bailable offences, electoral misconduct like bribery, as well as crimes related to assault, murder, kidnap, rape, corruption, and crimes against women.
The Election Commission of India emphasized the disclosure of detailed information regarding candidates with pending criminal cases by political parties, in line with Supreme Court directives from February 2020. Telangana has the highest number of candidates with 525 contesting 17 seats, followed by Andhra Pradesh with 454 candidates vying for 25 seats, and Maharashtra with 298 candidates contesting 11 seats. Jammu & Kashmir has 24 candidates contesting for a single seat. Despite a total of 1,717 candidates contesting polls in Phase 4, seven candidates were excluded from the analysis due to improperly scanned documents and affidavits at the time of the report.
The breakdown of criminal cases against candidates in Phase 4 of the Lok Sabha elections is concerning, as revealed by the data analysis. Notably, 30 candidates are implicated in cases related to attempted murder, 50 have charges related to crimes against women, including five facing charges of rape, and 17 have declared past convictions. Moreover, 44 candidates have charges related to hate speech against them, indicating a widespread occurrence of criminal charges within the pool of candidates in this phase.