The number of criminal-turned-Members of Parliament has increased from 128 to 150, when compared to the 2004 elections.
A study conducted by the National Election Watch suggests that out of those 150 MPs, 73 have serious charges levelled against them.
According to the report, there has been an increase of 17.2 per cent in terms of criminal candidates when compared to 2004 results.
The Bharatiya Janata Party tops the list of criminal candidates with 42. The Congress is a close second with 41 tainted candidates. Among the states Uttar Pradesh tops the list with 31 criminal candidates of which 22 have serious charges. Maharashtra comes second among the states with 23 candidtates with criminal charges.
The top ten candidates with serious offences are as follows:
- Jagadish Sharma of Janata Dal- United elected from the Jahanabad constituency tops the list. He is an accused in 6 cases and there are 17 serious counts under the Indian Penal Code booked against him.
- Bal Kumar Patel of the Samajwadi Party from the Mirzapur constituency in Uttar Pradesh is an accused in 10 cases and has 13 serious counts under the IPC.
- Prabhath Singh Pratap Singh Chauvan of the Bharatiya Janata Party elected from Pachamal, Gujarat has three cases and 10 serious counts under the IPC.
- Kapil Muni Karwariya of Bahujan Samaj Party elected from Phulpur, UP has 4 cases and 8 serious counts under the IPC.
- P Karunakaran of Communist Party of India-Marxist from Kasargod, Kerala has 12 cases and 6 serious counts under the IPC.
- Lalu Prasad Yadav of the Rashtriya Janata Dal from Bihar, Saran has 2 cases and 6 serious counts under the IPC.
- Kunwarjibhai Mohanbhai Bavaliya of Congress from Rajkot, Gujarat has 2 cases with 6 serious counts under the IPC.
- Vittalrao Hansrajbhai Radadiya of the Congress from Porbandar, Gujarat has 16 cases with 5 serious IPC counts.
- Feroze Varun Gandhi of BJP from Pilibhit, UP has 6 cases and 5 cases with serious IPC counts.
- Chandrakanth Raghunath Patil of BJP from Navsari has 6 cases and 5 cases with serious IPC counts.