Jharkhand polls Phase 2: 67 face criminal cases

Ahead of the second phase of the five-phase Jharkhand Assembly elections, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has released a report on the candidates with criminal cases against them.

The ADR analysed 260 candidates across multiple political parties and found that 67 of them have criminal charges against them, while 44 have serious criminal charges against them.

According to the report, four candidates from the Congress, eight from the BJP and seven candidates from the JMM face criminal charges, while three candidates from the Congress, five candidates from the BJP and five candidates from the JMM face serious criminal charges.

The serious criminal charges include cases of crimes against women, murder and attempt to murder. Of the 260 candidates analysed, three candidates have declared convictions in criminal cases.

The state has 12 constituencies marked as 'red alert constituencies', meaning that there are at least three candidates with criminal cases against them who are in the fray in those constituencies.

Twenty constituencies go to the polls on Dec. 7 in the Jharkhand Assembly elections. Of them, 16 constituencies are reserved for Scheduled Tribes and one is reserved for Scheduled Castes.