Bhubaneswar: As many as 87 of the total 265 candidates contesting 35 Assembly seats and 12 of the total 40 candidates contesting 5 Lok Sabha seats in Odisha have declared criminal cases pending against them, according to the Odisha Election Watch Report.
The Odisha Election Watch in association with the Association of Democratic Reform(ADR) has analysed the case record of the candidates who are in the fray in 5 Lok Sabha and 35 Assembly seats in Odisha
Polling will be held on these 35 Assembly seats and 5 Lok Sabha seats in the state on May 20 next.
As per the report, out of 12 candidates, almost 30 per cent of the total contesting candidates in the 5 Lok Sabha, eight Assembly seats have declared serious criminal cases against them.
One Lok Sabha candidate has stated that he has criminal cases relating to murder while four have cases of attempting to murder. Four candidates have declared criminal cases against women.
Among the Lok Sabha candidates, the BJP has a maximum of four candidates who have declared criminal cases against them while one from BJD and the Congress has declared criminal cases against them.
One each from BJP and the Congress has declared serious criminal cases against themselves. Two independent candidates contesting the Lok Sabha election in the second phase in the state have declared criminal cases against them.
Similarly, in the 35 Assembly seats going to poll on May 20, 87 candidates, about 33 percent have declared criminal cases against themselves. At least 70 candidates of them have declared serious criminal cases pending against them.
While 16 candidates have criminal cases of attempted to murder, eleven candidates have criminal cases relating to crime against women.
Party wise the BJP has a maximum number of 28 candidates who have declared criminal cases against them followed by Congress (17) BJD( 8) and APP (2).
The report said 14 of the 35 Assembly seats going to polls in the second phase are declared as Red Alert constituencies where more than three contesting candidates have criminal cases pending against them.
The Hinjili and Kantabanji Assembly seats contested by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, have been declared as Red Alert constituencies.
UNI