The report was released by the Himachal Pradesh Election Watch after analysing affidavits submitted by 445 out of the 459 candidates who are contesting the elections.
69 of these 459 candidates have criminal cases against them which is 16 per cent of the candidates against the 18 per cent in 2007 elections.
Almost all major political parties, including Congress, BJP, CPI(M) and HLP have given tickets to candidates with criminal backgrounds, the report said.
Giving a break up, it said that Congress has 16 candidates out of 68 with criminal background (24 per cent), while BJP has 7 out of 67 (10 per cent).
Similarly, BSP has 8 candidates out of 62 (13 per cent), HLP has 6 of 32 (19 per cent), AITC 2 out of 26 (8 per cent), CPI(M) 10 out of 16 (63 per cent) and IND has 9 out of 98 (9 per cent) candidates with declared criminal cases.
Candidates facing serious criminal cases are 30 of these 69 candidates with cases like murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, robbery, extortion pending against them.
Of these 30 candidates, CPM has fielded 5, INC 5, BJP has 4, HLP 1 and BSP has fielded 5 such candidates.
41 candidates are facing charges of crime like kidnapping, theft and dacoity.
