Come February 15 and voters set to cast their votes in the third phase of the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections will be confused regarding selection of their representative. With 61 percent graduate candidates in field it will look easier, but the picture is bound to be distorted due to the 38 percent criminals in the poll fray.

Report by NGO Association for democratic Reforms (ADR) and Uttar Pradesh Election Watch (UPEW) detailing the criminal cases pending against the candidates along with their total assets and liabilities is out. Affidavits of 317 candidates contesting elections was analysed by ADR and UPEW for the same.

The report reveals that while 193 out of 317 candidates analyzed i.e. 61 percent are graduates or with higher educational qualifications, 121 candidates (38%) contesting the elections have declared criminal cases against them.

Among these 121 candidates, Brijesh Singh alias Arun Kumar Singh of Pragatisheel Manav Samaj Party, who is contesting from Saiyadraja constituency, has declared maximum number of criminal cases against himself. He has declared 39 criminal cases including 57 serious charges under Indian Penal Code (IPC). He is followed by Atiq Ahmad of Apna Dal contesting from Allahabad West constituency with 44 criminal cases and 26 serious IPC charges against him and Ajay Prakash Singh of Peace Party from Lambhua constituency with 21 cases and 18 serious IPC charges.

According to the report, almost every major party has given tickets to such candidates. While SP has 30 out of 56 (54 %) such candidates, BSP has 21 out of 56 (38 %), BJP 25 out of 55 (46 %), INC 16 out of 52 (31 %), Peace Party 4 out of 7 (57 %), and JD(U) has 4 out of 34 (12 %) candidates with declared criminal cases against them.

Also, out of these 121 candidates with declared criminal cases, 61 (19 %) have declared serious criminal cases like murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, robbery, extortion etc. against themselves. In this category, BJP has 11 such candidates, BSP has 10, SP 18, Peace Party three, INC eight, JD(U) one, Quami Ekta Dal three and Apna Dal has five such candidates.

Detailing the asset and liabilities of candidates, the report reveals that out of 317 analyzed candidates for the third phase, 122 candidates i.e. 39 percent candidates are crorepatis.

The candidate with maximum assets is Nand Gopal of BSP from Allahabad South constituency with assets worth 95.26 crore followed by Tanveer of INC from Bhadohi with 21.20 crore and Atiq Ahmad of Apna Dal from Allahabad constituency with assets worth 20.79 crore.

Only six candidates have declared assets less than one lakh.

A total of 12 candidates out of 317 analyzed declared liabilities of one crore and above.

Among major parties, the average asset per candidate for SP is 1.99 crore, for BSP it is 3.68 crore, for BJP 1.39 crore, INC 2.18 crore, Peace Party 1.71 crore, JD (U) 22.98 lakh, Quami Ekta Dal 68.81 lakh and for Apna Dal it is 1.33 crore.

The number of re-contesting MLAs analyzed for third phase of UP 2012 sasembly elections is 35. According to the report, the average asset of these re-contesting MLAs as declared in 2007 is Rs 1.42 crore which is at Rs 5.84 crore this year. this means that the average percentage growth in the assets for these MLAs is 310 percent.

The report says that Nand Gopal of BSP from Allahabad South constituency has the highest increase in asset worth Rs.79.94 crore, followed by Anoop Sanda of SP from Sultanpur with an asset increase of Rs. 8.78 crore and Ameeta Singh of INC from Amethi constituency with an asset increase of Rs. 8.48 crore.

The highest percentage increase (7922%) in the assets has been for Jitendra Kumar of BSP from Chakia (SC) constituency. His assets rose from 2.37 lakh in 2007 to 1.90 crore in 2012. He is followed by Pooja Pal of BSP from Allahabad West constituency with a percentage increase of 3027% (3.55 lakh in 2007 to 1.11 crore in 2012) and Chandra Prakash of BSP from Gauriganj constituency with an increase of 1846% (24.22 lakh in 2007 to 4.71 crore in 2012).

The report also gives an analysis into the PAN and income tax returns details of the candidates. While Vijay Kumar (SP) has the highest annual income at Rs. 93.38 lakh, he is followed by Nand Gopal (BSP) at Rs. 78.36 lakh, Tanveer (INC) at Rs. 53.78 lakh and Keshari Nath Tripathi(BJP) at Rs. 49.32 lakh as per their last filed ITR.

A total of 135 candidates (43%) out of the 317 candidates analyzed by the Uttar Pradesh Election Watch have declared that they have never filed income tax returns.

Out of the 135 candidates analyzed who have never filed income tax returns, BJP has the maximum number of candidates 25 (45%) out of 55 candidates, followed by JD (U) - 24 (71%) out of 34 candidates, INC has 22 (42%) out of 52 candidates, SP has 20 (36%) out of 56 candidates, Apna Dal has 19(58%) out of 33, Quami Ekta Dal has 14(78%) out of 18, BSP has 7 (13%) out of 56 candidates and Peace Party has 3(43%) out of 7 candidates who have not filed IT returns.

Top three candidates with maximum assets but who have never filed IT returns are Siraj Ahmad Khan of Quami Ekta Dal contesting from Malhani has the highest total assets of Rs. 2.73 crore, followed by Abdul Hadi of Peace Party from Bhadohi with assets of Rs. 1.82 crore and Deepchand Jain of INC from Mirzapur with Rs. 1.75 crore respectively.

The report says that 74 (23%) candidates have not declared their PAN details of which JD (U) has the maximum number of candidates i.e. 20 out of 34, Apna Dal has 12 out 33 candidates, BJP have 12 out of 55, Quami Ekta Dal has 10 out of 18 candidates, SP have 9 out of 56 candidates, INC have 5 out of 52, BSP have 3 out of 56 and Peace party have 2 out of 7 candidates analyzed who have not declared their PAN card details.

Top three candidates with maximum assets and who have not declared their PAN card details are Abdul Hadi of Peace Party contesting from Bhadohi constituency has the highest assets with worth Rs. 1.82 crore, followed by Raj Narayan Singh of INC from Obra with assets of Rs. 1.66 crore and Jwala Prasad of Apna Dal from Mungra Badshahpur with Rs. 1.34 crore respectively.

Out of 1,029 candidates contesting for third phase of Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections 2012, only 78(8%) candidates are women; the number of women candidates for BSP is 4(7%) out of 56, for BJP it is 6(11%) out of 55, INC it is 3(6%) out of 52 and SP it is 5(9%) out of 56.