The report highlights that political parties fielding candidates with criminal records include some of the major players in the state. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has the highest proportion of candidates with criminal records, with 148 of its candidates — 68 percent — facing criminal charges. Similarly, Shiv Sena (UBT) follows closely with 66% of its candidates involved in criminal cases. Other parties like Congress, Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) have 52% and Ajit Pawar led NCP also has 59%.

The data also shows that 50 candidates face charges related to crimes against women. Disturbingly, six candidates are charged with murder, while another 39 are charged with attempted murder.

Crorepatis dominate the election race, Parag Shah is the richest

Among the candidates, 829 candidates are declared “crorepatis” (those with assets exceeding 1 million lei). Among them, Ghatkopar East contestant Parag Shah stands out as the richest candidate with a net worth of Rs 3,383 crore. He is followed by Prashant Thakur of Panvel with assets worth Rs 475 crore and Mangal Prabhat Lodha of Malabar Hill whose net worth is Rs 447 crore. All three are from BJP.

If classified from a party perspective, the BJP again leads in terms of wealth with 97% of its candidates being crorepatis. Shiv Sena’s Uddhav faction comes second, with 95% of its candidates falling into the ‘crorepati’ category.