Lucknow: As many as 103 candidates contesting the fourth phase of Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls have criminal cases pending against them, according to a monitoring group.

Out of the 297 candidates analysed by National Election Watch for the fourth phase of assembly elections, 103 candidates have declared criminal cases against them, former DGP MC Dwivedi of UP election watch told reporters here.

He said that the group has analysed 297 out of today 966 candidates belonging to main political parties.

Among these 103 candidates, with criminal background SP's Ravidas Mehrotra contesting from Lucknow west seat has maximum 17 cases against him.

He is followed by SP's Veer Singh, who is also son of slain dacoit Shiv Kumar alias Dadua from Chitrakoot with nine cases and independent candidate Raghuranj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya from Kunda (Pratapgarh) with eight criminal cases, he said.

In the fourth phase too, SP tops the chart with 29 such candidates, followed by Congress 25, BSP 18, BJP 11, Peace Party seven and Apna dal and JD(U) 5 each.

Out of these 103 candidates with declared criminal cases, 47 have declared serious criminal cases like murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, robbery, extortion etc.

A total of 139 candidates out of 297 analysed are crorepatis. In 2007, there were 22 per cent crorepati candidates.

The candidates with maximum assets in this phase are SP's Shyama Charan Gupta from Manikpur with assets over 40.45 crore followed by BSP's Shiv Prakash Mishra Senani from Kunda with Rs 30.05 crore.

Similarly BSP's Sindhuja Mishra from Vishwanath Ganj constituency has assets worth Rs 30.05 crore.

Among major parties, the average asset per candidate for BJP is Rs 1 crore, BSP and SP Rs 3 crore, Congress Rs 2 crore and Peace Party Rs 1 crore, he said.

PTI