New Delhi, Nov 18 (IANS): Nearly one-fourth of the contestants in the Madhya Pradesh assembly polls have criminal backgrounds, an analysis by a think tank revealed here Monday.

The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Madhya Pradesh Election Watch (MPEW) analysed 1,045 main candidates out of 2,583 candidates.

Among the three major parties Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the think tank analysed 683 out of 686 contesting candidates.

The report shows out of the 1,045 candidates analysed, 243 candidates or 23 percent have declared criminal cases against them.

Out of the 243 candidates who have declared criminal cases, 143 have declared serious criminal cases like murder, attempt-to-murder, kidnapping, criminal intimidation and crime against women.

A total of 91 of 228 (40 percent) candidates fielded by Congress have declared criminal cases against them, while 61 out of 229 (27 percent) candidates from BJP and 54 out of 226 (24 percent) candidates from BSP have declared criminal cases in their affidavits.

The report adds that at least seven candidates have declared charges of crime against women.

Of these seven candidates, four have charges related to husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty and three candidates have declared cases related to outraging a woman's modesty.