40% sitting MPs have criminal cases, 25% serious: ADR

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 Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

The average worth of assets per MP from Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha is Rs 38.33 crores and 53 (seven per cent) are billionaires, the ADR said.

The 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 the Bharatiya Janata Party, 43 (53 per cent) out of 81 MPs from the Congress, 14 (39 per cent) out of 36 MPs from the Trinamool Congress, five (83 per cent) out of six MPs from the Rashtriya Janata Dal, six (75 per cent) out of eight MPs from the Communist Party of India-Marxist, three (27 per cent) out of 11 MPs from the Aam Aadmi Party, 13 (42 per cent) out of 31 MPs from the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party and three (38 per cent) out of eight MPs from the Nationalist Congress Party have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

About 98 (25 per cent) out of 385 MPs from the BJP, 26 (32 per cent) out of 81 MPs from the Congress, seven (19 per cent) out of 36 MPs from the TMC, three (50 per cent) out of six MPs from the RJD, two (25 per cent) out of eight MPs from the CPI-M, one (9 per cent) out of 11 MPs from the AAP, 11 (35 per cent) out of 31 MPs from the YSRCP and two (25 per cent) out of eight MPs from the 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).

The state with the highest average assets per MP is Telangana (24 MPs) with average assets of Rs 262.26 crores, followed by Andhra Pradesh (36 MPs) with average assets of Rs 150.76 crores and Punjab (20 MPs) with average assets of Rs 88.94 crores.

The state with the lowest average assets of MPs is Lakshadweep (1 MP) with average assets of Rs 9.38 lakh, followed by Tripura (3 MPs) with average assets of Rs 1.09 crores and Manipur (3 MPs) with average assets of Rs 1.12 crore.

Among the major parties, the average assets per MP for 385 BJP MPs analysed is Rs 18.31 crore, 81 Congress MPs have average assets of Rs 39.12 crore, 36 TMC MPs have average assets worth Rs. 8.72 crore, 31 YSRCP MPs have average assets worth Rs. 153.76 crore, 16 Telangana Rashtra Samiti MPs have average assets worth Rs. 383.51 crores, eight NCP MPs have average assets worth Rs. 30.11 crore and 11 AAP MPs have average assets of Rs. 119.84 crore.

Among the 53 billionaire MPs, seven (29 per cent) out of the 24 Telangana MPs, nine (25 per cent) out of 36 MPs from Andhra Pradesh, two (20 per cent) out of 10 MPs from Delhi, four (20 per cent) out of 20 MPs from Punjab, one (13 per cent) out of eight MPs from Uttarakhand, six (9 per cent) out of 65 MPs from Maharashtra and three (8 per cent) out of 39 MPs from Karnataka have declared assets worth more than Rs 100 crore.

About 14 (4 per cent) out of 385 MPs from BJP, six (7 per cent) out of 81 MPs from Congress, seven (44 per cent) out of 16 MPs from TRS, seven (23 per cent) out of 31 MPs from YSRCP, three (27 per cent) out of 11 MPs from AAP, 2(100 per cent) out of two MPs from the Shiromani Akali Dal and one (3 per cent) out of 36 MPs from the TMC have declared assets worth more than Rs 100 crore.

The total assets of 763 sitting MPs are worth Rs 29,251 crore.

The total worth of assets of 385 BJP MPs analysed is Rs. 7,051 crore, for 16 TRS MPs analysed is Rs 6,136 crore, for 31 YSRCP MPs analysed is Rs 4,766 crore, for 81 Congress MPs analysed is Rs 3,169 crore and 11 AAP MPs have total assets worth Rs 1,318 crore.