Patna, Oct 10 (IANS): The BJP has fielded the highest number of aspirants having criminal records in the Bihar Assembly elections in the last 15 years, while the LJP has seen the maximum number of such tainted candidates actually get elected, the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) said in a report.

As far as candidates facing serious criminal charges are concerned, the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Janata Dal-United and the Rashtriya Janata Dal are quite close to each other.

As per the ADR report, the BJP has given tickets to 426 candidates and 59 percent of them (252 candidates) face criminal charges. The RJD has fielded 502 candidates and 56 percent of them (280) face criminal charges, while the JD-U has given a ticket to 454 candidates and 52 percent of them (234) faced criminal charges at the time when they filed their nominations.

Among these, the number of candidates facing serious criminal charges at the time of filing nominations ranged from 146 for the BJP, 176 for the RJD and 158 for the JD-U.

Since 2005, 27 MP or MLAs won the elections as LJP candidates and 19 of them are tainted, with 11 of them are facing serious criminal charges.

During the last 15 years, 21 of the total Independent candidates who filed nominations to contest the polls were tainted and 15 of these candidates managed to win, including eight facing serious criminal charges.