Criminals in the fray

Some things never change. Despite mounting public criticism about criminal-politicians, parties continue to field them in elections. A voluntary organisation tracking parties and politics has found that of the 19 Congress candidates in UP, whose personal records it was familiar with, at least four had serious criminal cases pending against them. In the case of the Samajwadis, 24 of its 61 candidates whose histories the NGO was familiar with had criminal antecedents. The BJP’s eight candidates out of the 28 whose personal records were available with the NGO, had a criminal background.