Lucknow: Although there is no dearth of tainted politicians and criminals in the UP Assembly polls, there are at least six candidates in the fray who are running the show from behind the bars. The Poorvanchal region of the state has the highest number of such candidates. The voters in the region are caught in a bind here and are having a tough time deciding who to vote for. In some constituencies, all the candidates in fray have criminal background and the voters there have to make the tough choice of going for the lesser evil.
Some of the names in the notorious club include Munna Bajrangi, Brijesh Singh, Ateeq Ahmad and Mukhtar Ansari. While Ansari is a Qaumi Ekta Dal candidate from the Saiyadraja seat in Chandauli, his opponent Singh is from the Progressive Human Society Party. Singh, convicted in cases like the Pakdi massacre to Mumbai's J J murder case, is currently in jail and his campaign is being conducted by his asoociates.
Another dreaded name in the fray is Prem Prakash Singh alias Munna Bajrangi, an Apna Dal candidate from Madiyau seat in Jaunpur. Bajrangi is accused of almost a dozen murders, including that of ex-BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai. Bajrangi is lodged in Delhi's Tihar Jail.
Ateeq Ahmad, accused in various criminal cases, is another tainted candidate from Apna Dal. Anupriya Patel, senior Apna Dal leader, defends his party colleagues by saying only the court has the right to call them criminals.
Samajwadi Party has also fielded a few tainted candidates. There is Vijay Mishra who once tried to kill UP Minister and BSP leader Nandagopal Nandi, and Guddu Pandit in the fray from Dibai seat. BJP has fielded Prem Narayan Pandey from the Tarabganj seat. Pandey is one of the accused in the murder case of his own partyman, besides a few other cases of killing.
According to the National Election Watch, out of the 617 candidates announced in UP so far, at least 77 among them are wanted for crimes like murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping and dacoity.
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