Guwahati, March 30: Altogether 30 of the 539 candidates (around six per cent) contesting in 65 constituencies that are going to the polls on April 4 in the first phase of the Assembly elections have criminal cases pending against them, a study has revealed.

The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Assam Election Watch compiled these figures after analysing the sworn affidavits of all 539 candidates.

"In 2010, the Supreme Court, in support of the public interest litigation filed by ADR, had instructed that every candidate must declare their background under four topics, namely educational background, monetary liability, assets and criminal cases. The report is based on those affidavits. However, chances are that a candidate might have given wrong information and if proven so, the Supreme Court will take necessary action," Tasaduk Ariful Hussain, Assam co-ordinator of ADR, told The Telegraph here today.

According to the report, 25 of the 30 candidates have serious charges pending against them. The study says the ruling Congress has six of its 65 candidates facing criminal charges. The BJP has three candidates out of 54 and the AIUDF has two out of 27. The CPI (M-L) Liberation has one of six contenders while 13 out of 280 Independent candidates have declared they face criminal cases. Two candidates have murder cases pending against them: BJP's Kushal Deuri from Thowra and Independent candidate Janardan Hazarika from Amguri.