Many criminals to contest UP assembly elections

New Delhi: The affidavits of 785 candidates contesting the first phase of the crucial Uttar Pradesh assembly polls make appalling reading - almost 131 have criminal cases pending against them, with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leading the pack.

The BSP has 22 candidates with criminal cases, followed by the Samajwadi Party (SP) 19, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) 16 and the Congress 15.

Not bothered

In the last assembly elections in 2002, 32 of the 62 seats going to polls on April 7 were won by candidates facing serious criminal charges.

According to Uttar Pradesh Election Watch (UPEW), a non-partisan body of citizens, 11 candidates had not bothered to mention they had any criminal cases pending against them though the state government's website says all of them have pending cases.

At least two dozen independent candidates with criminal backgrounds have also thrown their hat into the electoral ring.

Leading the pack is Mumbai blasts accused Abu Salem, who was in fact the first one to announce his candidature from the Mubarakpur assembly seat.

Then there is another don, Babloo Srivastava, who was extradited from Singapore five years ago and has now decided to contest the Lucknow central seat.

Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya, is also back in the poll field as is Seema Parihar, the accomplice of slain dacoit Nirbhay Gujjar.

Charges against many candidates vary from murder, theft and rape to extortion and banditry.

In seven constituencies, there were more than five candidates with pending criminal cases.

For an election that is bound to see big money power, UPEW found to its horror that a whopping 509 candidates did not have a permanent account number (PAN) card, a must for all income-tax assesses.