Out of the 738 candidates announced by various parties, including Congress and BJP, 63 nominees have a criminal background, the study conducted by National Election Watch, a conglomeration of various NGOs, said.

The BJP tops the list as 28 candidates nominated by it have a criminal background, it said, adding that it went through the affidavits of candidates submitted to the Election Commission in the past elections and came to the conclusion.

It says, BJP has maximum number of candidates with criminal background. Of the 28, 14 from the saffron party have serious criminal cases pending against them.

The study also found that BSP has nominated 16 persons, who are either convicted or facing criminal charges, with 13 being involved in serious criminal cases.

"Of the 730 candidates declared so far we could avail past affidavits of 278 candidates. Among these 63 are those with criminal records as mentioned in their earlier affidavits," said NEW National Coordinator Anil Bairwal.

It said the Congress has nominated 10 candidates with criminal background, SP (six), CPI(M) (two) and CPI (one).

The study also found that nearly nine per cent of candidates declared by the political parties have criminal background (63 of 730), and more than five per cent have pending charges or convictions against them involving serious criminal cases.

A state wise analysis of the data shows that a maximum number of 36 candidates charged with criminal offences have been fielded in Uttar Pradesh, followed by Jharkhand and Karnataka (five each).

Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal each has three such candidates while, Delhi and Maharashtra has one and two candidates with criminal records respectively.