Lok Sabha: 29% Elected MPs Have Serious Criminal Cases

NEW DELHI: As many as 159 candidates elected to the Lok Sabha this time have declared “serious” criminal cases against themselves, while 233 have shown criminal cases in their affidavits, according to an analysis by the National Election Watch (NEW) and the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

Moreover, 10 winning candidates have been convicted, the NEW and the ADR said in its analysis. They include five MPs from BJP — Jagdambika Pal, Manoj Kishorbhai Kotak, Kailash Choudhary, Chhatar Singh Darbar and Rajbahadur Singh; four from the Congress — Dean Kuriakose, T.N. Prathapan, K. Sudhakaran and VK Sreekandan, and a lone YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) MP Talari Rangaiah. The analysis, however, did not give details of the cases for which they were convicted.

At least 11 MPs have declared cases related to murder, the report said. They are: Horen Sing Bey, Nisith Pramanik, Ajay Kumar, Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and Chhatar Singh Darba (all from BJP), Atul Kumar Singh and Afzal Ansari (Bahujan Samaj Party), Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury (Congress), Udayanraje Bhonsle (Nationalist Congress Party), Kuruva Gorantla Madhav (YSRCP) and Naba Kumar Sarania (Independent) candidate.

Besides, 3 MPs — Saumitra Khan (BJP), Hibi Eden (Congress) and Kuruva Gorantla Madhav (YSRCP) — have cases related to crime against women, the analysis said.

A party wise break-up of winners having “serious” criminal cases against them has the BJP on top with 87 MPs, followed by Congress (19), Janata Dal-United (8), DMK (6) and Trinamool Congress (4), according to the analysis.

Regarding financial background, the analysis said that 88 per cent of the winners, which is 475 out of the 539 MPS, are crorepatis. The party wise break-up of crorepatis is as follows: BJP (265), Congress (43), DMK (22), Trinamool Congress (19), YSRCP (19).

According to the ADR, the three richest winners in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections are from the Congress. Topping the list is Nakul Nath, having assets worth over Rs 660 crore, followed by H. Vasanthakumar (over Rs 417 crore) and D.K. Suresh (over Rs 338 crore).

As per the analysis, three winners with lowest assets are Goddeti Madhavi of the YSRCP with declared assets worth over Rs 1 lakh, followed by BJD’s Chandrani Murmu (Rs three lakh plus) and Mahant Balak Nath of the BJP (Rs three lakh plus).

According to the analysis, 128 elected MPs have declared their educational qualification to be between 5th and 12th pass while 392 (73 per cent) winners are graduate and above.

Meanwhile, one winner has declared himself to be just literate and one illiterate.

The ADR statement said there are 77 women MPs (14 per cent) in the 17th Lok Sabha. (IANS)

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