40% sitting MPs have criminal cases, 25% cases of serious nature

New Delhi: About 40 per cent of sitting MPs have criminal cases registered against them out of which 25 per cent have declared serious criminal cases under charges of murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping and crimes against women, according to poll rights body ADR. The average worth of assets per MP from Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha is Rs 38.33 crore and 53 (seven per cent) are billionaires, the ADR said. The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch (NEW) have analysed the self-sworn affidavits of 763 sitting MPs out of 776 seats of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. This data has been extracted from affidavits filed by the MPs prior to contesting their last elections and any subsequent by-elections.

Four seats of Lok Sabha and one seat of Rajya Sabha are vacant and four Rajya Sabha seats of Jammu and Kashmir are undefined. The affidavits of one Lok Sabha MP and three Rajya Sabha MPs could not be analysed as these documents were not available. Out of the 763 sitting MPs analysed, 306 (40 per cent) sitting MPs have declared criminal cases against them and 194 (25 per cent) sitting MPs have declared serious criminal cases including cases related to murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, crimes against women, etc, it said.

Among the members of both Houses, 23 (79 per cent) out of 29 MPs from Kerala, 41 (73 per cent) out of 56 MPs from Bihar, 37 (57 per cent) out of 65 MPs from Maharashtra, 13 (54 per cent) out of 24 MPs from Telangana and 5 (50 per cent) out of 10 MPs from Delhi have declared criminal cases against themselves in their self-sworn affidavits, the ADR said.

About 28 (50 per cent) out of 56 MPs from Bihar, nine (38 per cent) out of 24 MPs from Telangana, 10 (34 per cent) out of 29 MPs from Kerala, 22(34 per cent) out of 65 MPs from Maharashtra and 37 (34 per cent) out of 108 MPs from Uttar Pradesh have declared serious criminal cases in their self-sworn affidavits. About 139(36 per cent) out of 385 MPs from BJP, 43 (53 per cent) out of 81 MPs from Congress, 14 (39 per cent) out of 36 MPs from TMC, 5(83 per cent) out of 6 MPs from RJD, 6(75 per cent) out of 8 MPs from CPI(M), 3(27 per cent) out of 11 MPs from AAP, 13(42 per cent) out of 31 MPs from YSRCP and 3(38 per cent) out of 8 MPs from NCP have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

About 98 (25 per cent) out of 385 MPs from BJP, 26 (32 per cent) out of 81 MPs from Congress, 7 (19 per cent) out of 36 MPs from TMC, 3(50 per cent) out of 6 MPs from RJD, 2(25 per cent) out of 8 MPs from CPI(M), 1 (9 per cent) out of 11 MPs from AAP, 11(35 per cent) out of 31 MPs from YSRCP and 2(25 per cent) out of 8 MPs from NCP have declared serious criminal cases in their affidavits. Eleven sitting MPs have declared cases related to murder (Indian Penal Code Section-302), 32 sitting MPs have declared cases of attempt to murder (IPC Section-307), while 21 sitting MPs have declared cases related to crimes against women. Out of these 21 MPs, four MPs have declared cases related to rape (IPC Section-376).