Srinagar, Sep 18 (IANS): A notable 20 per cent of the candidates in the second phase of the J&K Assembly elections have criminal cases pending against them, including murder, rape and other changes, as per the affidavits filed by them before the Election Commission of India (ECI).

The self-sworn affidavits were filed by the candidates along with the nomination papers as per the set rules of the Commission.

These candidates are in the electoral fray since the law on this clearly states that unless charged and proven guilty in a court of law, every citizen is to be deemed innocent.

Those facing criminal cases include four from the BJP, four from the PDP, two from Congress, and one from the National Conference.

Of the 238 candidates in the electoral fray for the second phase of J&K elections, 47 candidates are facing criminal cases. Of these seven candidates are accused of crimes against women, including one who faces a case of rape. 37 candidates have other criminal cases against them while three have murder cases registered against them.

It is because of the presence of these candidates with cases of criminal record against them, that the ECI has declared eight constituencies as red alert constituencies. The ECI stipulates that a constituency where three or more contesting candidates have criminal cases against them needs to be declared as a red-alert constituency.

Interestingly, the contesting candidates have below-average educational qualifications. On average, contesting candidates have educational qualifications between 5th and 12th classes while one of them has declared himself as illiterate. A total of 114 candidates are graduates or above while six others are Diploma holders. Among all the candidates, 84 are in the age group of 25-40, 105 in 41-60 and 49 are in the 61-80 age group,

There are only three female candidates in the fray for the second phase of J&K Assembly polls.

The main contest in the second phase is between the BJP and NC-Congress alliance while PDP is also a challenger in the second phase. Voting for the second phase is scheduled for September 25. The third and last phase is on October 1.

The counting of votes will take place on October 8.

J&K has 90 Assembly seats after fresh delimitation of constituencies. Of these 47 seats are in the Kashmir division and 43 are in the Jammu division. Of these nine are ST seats and seven are SC seats.