In Uttar Pradesh nearly 16 percent of the candidates contesting in for the second phase of Lok Sabha polling in the State have a criminal background.

A non government organization the Association for Democratic Reforms has said that of the 147 candidates in the fray, 24 have criminal cases against them, of which 18 face serious criminal charges like murder, attempt to murder and kidnapping. Polling for second phase of elections in 11 constituencies will be held on April 17.

After an analysis and study the association has said that the Bahujan Samaj Party has fielded 45 percent candidates having criminal background followed by Bharatiya Janata Party 27 percent, Aam Aadmi Party 20 percent, Samajwadi Party 10 percent and Congress have 25 percent candidate from criminal background in the phase.

The study further reveals that there are 52 percent crorepatis are fighting the elections in this phase.

According to the report, all the 11 candidates fielded by BSP are crorepatis. BJP has fielded 10, Samajwadi Party 9, Congress 7 and AAP has put up 3 crorepati candidates in the contest.