Survey shows 1,460 criminal MPs and MLAs in the country

The Supreme Court on Wednesday delivered a landmark verdict with regard to convicted MPs and MLAs. The judgment has ruled that a convicted elected representative cannot continue in office and the conviction will lead to instant disqualification of the elected representative. The judgement is important considering the fact that India has 1,460 sitting MP's and MLA's with a criminal background.

An analysis provided by non governmental organisations Association for Democratic Reforms and National Election Watch states the following:

1,460 (30 per cent) out of a total of 4,807 sitting MPs and MLAs analysed by the ADR and NEW have declared criminal cases against themselves in their self-sworn affidavits submitted to the Election Commission of India prior to contesting elections.

688 (14 per cent) out of the total number of sitting MPs and MLAs analysed have declared serious criminal cases against themselves.

162 (30 per cent) out of the 543 Lok Sabha MPs have declared criminal cases against themselves. 14 cent of the current Lok Sabha MPs have declared serious criminal cases against themselves.

1,258 (31 per cent) out of the 4,032 sitting MLAs from all state assemblies have declared criminal cases against themselves. 15 per cent of the current MLAs from all state assemblies have declared serious criminal cases against themselves.

The Jharkhand 2009 assembly has the highest percentage of elected representatives (74 per cent) who declared criminal cases against them. 55 out of 74 MLAs of the Jharkhand 2009 assembly declared criminal cases against themselves.

Among the recent elections that have been covered by ADR and NEW, the Bihar 2010 assembly has 58 per cent MLAs who have declared criminal cases against themselves.

The Uttar Pradesh 2012 assembly has 47 per cent MLAs with criminal cases.

Contrarily, none of the MLAs of the Manipur 2012 assembly have declared criminal cases against themselves.

82 per cent of MPs and MLAs who have gotten elected on Jharkhand Mukti Morcha tickets have declared criminal cases against themselves. 

64 per cent of MPs and MLAs who have gotten elected on Lalu Prasad Yadav-led Rashtriya Janata Dal tickets have declared criminal cases against themselves. 

48 per cent of elected representatives who have gotten elected on Mulayam Singh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party tickets have declared criminal cases against themselves.

21 per cent of MPs and MLAs who have gotten elected on Congress tickets have declared criminal cases against themselves (Out of the 1,433 elected representatives from Congress, 305 have declared criminal cases against themselves). 

11 per cent of MPs and MLAs who have gotten elected on Bharatiya Janata Party tickets have declared criminal cases against themselves (Out of the 1,017 MPs and MLAs from BJP, 313 have declared criminal cases). 

Image: The apex court’s judgement is important considering the fact that India has 1,460 sitting MP's and MLA's with a criminal background.

Photograph: Reuters