The Congress, BJP and other political outfits which have welcomed the Supreme Court’s move to cleanse Indian politics have been fielding candidates with criminal antecedents. At this juncture, there are over 1,400 legislators who have declared criminal cases against themselves in their self-sworn affidavits.
A study carried out by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch (NEW) on 4,807 legislators revealed that a total of 1,460 MPs and MLAs have declared criminal cases against themselves.
Of the 1,460 legislators, 688 MPs and MLAs have “serious criminal cases” ranging from murder, attempted murder, kidnapping and extortion pending against them.
As per ADR and NEW statistics, 162 (30 per cent) out of the 543 Lok Sabha MPs have declared criminal cases against themselves. Fourteen per cent of the current Lok Sabha MPs have declared serious criminal cases against themselves.
The report further stated that 1,258 (31 per cent) out of the 4,032 sitting MLAs from all state Assemblies have declared criminal cases against themselves. Fifteen per cent of the current MLAs from all state Assemblies have declared serious criminal cases against themselves.
The report claimed that the 2009 Jharkhand Assembly has the highest percentage of elected representatives (74 per cent) who have declared criminal cases against themselves. Fifty-five out of 74 MLAs of the 2009 Jharkhand Assembly declared criminal cases against themselves.
Among the recent elections that have been covered by the Association for Democratic Reforms and National Election Watch, the Bihar 2010 Assembly has 58 per cent MLAs who have declared criminal cases against themselves. The 2012 UP Assembly has 47 per cent MLAs with criminal cases.
Giving a party-wise position, the report stated that 82 per cent of MPs and MLAs elected on JMM tickets have declared criminal cases against themselves.
Sixty-four per cent MPs and MLAs elected on RJD tickets have criminal cases against themselves while 48 per cent Samajwadi MLAs and MPs have criminal cases pending against them.
While 21 per cent Congress MPs and MLAs have criminal cases, 31 per cent of the BJP legislators have criminal antecedents. Of the 1,433 Congress MPs and MLAs, 305 have criminals records and of the 1,017 elected representatives of the BJP, 313 have similar record.