India, Nov. 5 -- Over 30% of candidates contesting in the second phase of the Bihar assembly elections have declared criminal cases against themselves, while 26% face serious criminal charges, including those related to murder and crimes against women, according to a report released by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) on Tuesday.

The report - based on an analysis of 1,297 self-sworn affidavits out of 1,302 candidates contesting in the November 11 second phase of elections to 122 seats - points out that 415 (32%) candidates have declared criminal cases against them while 341 (26%) candidates have serious criminal cases, including murder (15 candidates), attempt to murder (79 candidates), and crimes against women (52 candidates...