Bangalore, May 11: There are 49 candidates with criminal records in the fray for 66 assembly constituencies that go to polls in Karnataka in the second phase on May 16.

Among the major parties, BJP has 13 candidates with criminal record, BSP seven, Congress nine, JDS eight and other parties 12, according to findings released by Karnataka Election Watch, an endeavour of the Association for Democratic Reforms, an NGO.

Out of the 49, six candidates face charges of murder or attempt to murder while several of them are charged with other crimes like assault with deadly weapons, forgery, criminal intimidation and death threats, Trilochan Sastry, a professor at IIMB who heads the ADR said.

In 2004, BJP had put up 21 candidates with criminal records, the Congress 12 and the JDS 19. These three parties have not shown any significant decline in the percentage of candidates with criminal records, he said.

He said the total assets declared by all the 372 candidates for phase two was Rs 902 crore, with average candidate assets of Rs 2.42 crore.

The Congress led the parties with total declared candidate assets of Rs 470 crore and average candidate assets of Rs 7.35 crore. BJP had total candidate assets of Rs 249.8 crore and average of Rs 3.78 crore, JDS Rs 77.9 crore and an average of Rs 1.28 crore and BSP Rs 40.6 crore and average of Rs 0.64 crore.

He said the three major parties, the BJP, Congress and JDS account for 88.5 per cent of total candidates assets with average candidate assets of Rs 4.18 crore.

There are five candidates who have declared assets of over Rs 30 crore each. Of these, two are from BJP, three from Congress. In the first phase, the number of such candidates was 14, Trilochan said adding 17 candidates had high assets between Rs five crore and Rs 30 crore each.

He said 74 candidates reported a very steep increase in total assets between the 2004 polls and this election. The average increase in assets was a huge 465.6 per cent, he said.

The Congress led the pack with an increase to the tune of 648.8 per cent, followed by the JDS at 296.5 per cent and BJP at 162.5 per cent, he said.

In the first phase, 47 candidates were in fray with criminal record, including eight with serious charges of murder and attempt to murder against them, he said.

Commenting on the utility of such an exercise to list candidates with high assets and criminal records, he said it helped in exerting pressure on parties to choose candidates with clean records.

Commenting on the low voter turnout in Bruhat Bangalore Mahe Palike and urban areas, a member of the survey team said it could be attributed to voter apathy.

"The middle class in urban areas are getting what they want from the system like high salaries, which has led to apathy". Most of them put up an excuse that there was no point voting for those whose credentials were doubtful, he said.

PTI