Of the 514 sittings MPs in the 17th Lok Sabha, at least 225 have declared their involvement in criminal cases, the non-governmental organisation Association of Democratic Reforms said in a report on Friday. That is 44% of the total number of sitting legislators.
The report – “Analysis of Criminal Background, Financial, Education, Gender and other details of Sitting MPs in Lok Sabha Elections 2019” – analysed the self-sworn affidavits of the 514 MPs that were submitted prior to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and bye-polls conducted afterward.
“One MP namely Devendra Singh [BJP] contesting from Akbarpur Constituency has not been analysed as his affidavit was badly scanned and 28 seats are vacant,” the report clarified.
Out of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s 294 sitting MPs, 118 or 40% have criminal cases against them, while 57% of sitting Congress MPs, or 26 out of 46, have been booked in criminal cases. In the Dravida Munnetra Kazhgam, 46%, or 11 out of 24 sitting MPs, have been named in criminal cases.
Eight out of 19 sitting MPs from the Trinamool Congress have criminal cases against them, while for the Janata Dal (United) the number stands at 12 of the party’s 16 MPs. Eight out of 17 sitting MPs fielded by the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.
Nearly a third of sitting MPs – 149 out of 514 – have declared serious criminal cases including those related to murder, attempt to murder, communal disharmony, kidnapping and crimes against women.
Nine MPs have declared cases related to murder, of whom five are from the BJP, one each are from the Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party, YSR Congress Party and one is an independent legislator.
More than 50% of MPs from Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Himachal Pradesh face criminal charges.
Association for Democratic Reforms defines “serious crimes” as “non-bailable offences that attract a maximum punishment of five years and more”. These are crimes related to assault, murder, kidnapping, rape, crimes against women and corruption.
The report also analysed the assets declared by the legislators in their 2019 affidavits. Of the 514 MPs, 25 are billionaires or have declared assets valued more than Rs 100 crore. That is 5% of the total number of legislators.
The Congress and the BJP have the highest number of billionaire MPs with declared assets worth more than Rs 100 crore, at two and nine. However, this category is also significantly represented by other parties.
The three MPs with the highest declared assets are Nakul Nath (more that Rs 660 crore) and DK Suresh (Rs 338 crore) from the Congress and Kanumuru Raghu Rama Krishna Raju (Rs 325 crore), an Independent MP.
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