Around 23 per cent of the 162 candidates in the fray for the sixth phase of Lok Sabha elections in 14 constituencies of Uttar Pradesh have declared criminal cases against themselves while 36 per cent candidates are crorepatis.

The disclosure was made through a report published by Uttar Pradesh Election Watch (UPEW) and Association for Democratic Reforms(ADR) here on Thursday , which analysed the affidavits of all 162 candidates contesting in the 6th phase of polls in UP where polling will be held on May 25.

The 14 constituencies elections for which will be conducted under the sixth phase of polls are Sultanpur, Pratapgarh, Phulpur, Allahabad, Ambedkarnagar, Shravasti, Dumariyaganj, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Lalganj (SC), Azamgarh, Jaunpur, Machhlishahar (SC) and Bhadohi.

According to the report, 38 out of 162 (23 per cent) candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves while 21 per cent have declared serious criminal cases against themselves.

Party-wise details of the candidates who have declared criminal cases in the sixth phase are: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP): 4 out of 14 (29 per cent); Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) 6 out of 14 (43 per cent) of; Samajwadi Party (SP): 6 out of 12 (75%).

Babu Singh Kushwaha, who is contesting from Jaunpur on a SP ticket, has 25 criminal cases registered against him followed by Ram Bhual Nishad, another SP candidate with criminal image is contesting from Sultanpur. He has eight criminal cases registered against him. Next comes, Moinuddin Ahmed Khan, the BSP candidate from Shravasti with 10 criminal cases against him.

The report further says 59 out of the 162 candidates i.e. 36 per cent are crorepatis. All 14 BJP candidates (100%), 11 of the 12 candidates of SP (92 per cent), 9 out of 14 candidates of BSP (64%) are millionaires.

The average assets of the candidates of the sixth phase are worth Rs. 4.66 crore. Among the main parties, the average assets of 14 candidates of the BJP are around Rs. 28 crore. The average assets of 14 candidates of the BSP are around Rs. 4 crore. The average wealth of 12 SP candidates is approximately Rs 13 crore.

Among the candidates for the sixth phase of Lok Sabha elections are Maneka Sanjay Gandhi, contesting on BJP ticket from Sultanpur, whose assets are around Rs 97 crore.

Praveen Patel, who is contesting on a BSP ticket from Phulpur, has assets are worth Rs 64 crore. SP candidate Shivpal Singh Patel, who is contesting the Pratapgarh Lok Sabha seat, has assets worth around Rs 46 crore.

Among the top three candidates, who have declared the least assets, is Ram Kumar Yadav. Yadav, who is contesting the Pratapgarh Lok Sabha seat from SUCI (C), has total assets of Rs 1,686. At second place is Subash, who is contesting as an independent from Machhilishahr. His total assets are Rs 10,000 and while Urmila, who is contesting the elections from Samaj Parivartan Party, has declared her total assets as Rs 34,000.

As for educational qualification, 51 of the 162 (31 per cent) candidates have declared between 5th and 12th while 105 (65 per cent) have declared graduation and above. Three candidates have declared themselves as Diploma holder while three others have declared themselves as literate.

Talking about the age of the candidates in the sixth phase, 60 (37 per cent) out of 162 candidates have declared their age between 25 to 40 years, while 75 (46 per cent) candidates have declared their age between 41 to 60 years. A total of 27 (17 per cent) candidates have declared their age between 61 to 80 years.

A total of 16 (10 per cent) women candidates are contesting in the fifth phase in UP.