The 2007 Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly election was held during April–May 2007. It was held to elect a government for the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. Background With 166 million people, U.P. is about the size of France, Germany, and the Benelux nations combined. There are 113 million voters, and 403 electoral seats, with an average of a quarter of a million voters in each constituency. The elections were conducted for 403 seats at 110,000 polling stations under very strict guidelines by the autonomous Election Commission of India. More than 46% of the electorate cast their votes. Schedule The election was held in seven phases: Phase 1 : 2007-04-07 Phase 2 : 2007-04-13 Phase 3 : 2007-04-18 Phase 4 : 2007-04-23 Phase 5 : 2007-04-28 Phase 6 : 2007-05-03 Phase 7 : 2007-05-08 Parties A total of 129 parties fielded 2,487 candidates, while 2020 candidates stood as independents, for the total of 406 seats. Criminalisation in the U.P. 2007 elections The number of criminal-politicians participating in the elections have been growing, particularly because they have been successful in the past. In the U.P. Assembly elections, 2002, candidates with criminal records won 206 out of 403 seats in the assembly, i.e. more criminals were elected than regular politicians. In 2007, the participation by criminals increased significantly. Prior to elections, 74% more criminal politicians were given tickets by the mainstream parties (Source: UP Election Watch, independent NGO headed by ex-DIG Ishwar P. Dwivedi): Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP): 36.27% Samajwadi Party (SP): 27.01% Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP): 23.05% Indian National Congress (INC) : 21.60% The Election Commission of India, the autonomous body charged with conducting elections, was facing intense media pressure to check criminalization related irregularities in the electoral process. Extremely strict measures were enforced, bringing in 639 companies of paramilitary forces to prevent musclepower effects. Any deviations from prescribed norms led to candidates being debarred. To help manage the situation, elections were held in seven stages. At least six candidates campaigned from jails, broadcasting live speeches through illegal mobile phones smuggled into their jail cells while jailors looked the other way. However, partially owing to the strict measures adopted during elections, only 100 persons with criminal records won the elections (as opposed to 206 in the previous elections). These include the elected Chief Minister Mayawati, who is facing embezzlement charges stemming from the Rs.175 crore (US$35 million) Taj Corridor Case, the