When the National Election Watch and Association of Democratic Reforms released a list of 233 Lok Sabha MPs out of a total of 539 winners during 2019 elections who had declared criminal cases against themselves, it raised eyebrows. The report had also found that chances of winning for a candidate with declared criminal cases in the Lok Sabha was 15.5 per cent as against candidates with a clean background which was just 4.7 per cent.
Ironically, when it comes to Rajya Sabha, the story is no different because out of the 229 Rajya Sabha MPs analysed, 54 (24 per cent) Rajya Sabha MPs have declared criminal cases against themselves.
Rajya Sabha has 233 seats of which three seats are vacant. National Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) have analysed the self-sworn affidavits of 229 out of 230 sitting Rajya Sabha MPs. One MP has not been analyzed, as his affidavit was unavailable.
The data available with ADR shows that out of the 229 Rajya Sabha MPs analyzed, 54 (24 per cent) Rajya Sabha MPs have declared criminal cases against themselves. Also 28 (12 per cent) Rajya Sabha MPs have declared serious criminal cases.
In the Lok Sabha, out of the 539 winners analyzed in Lok Sabha elections 2019, 233 (43 per cent) MPs have declared criminal cases against themselves. There are 19 MPs who have declared cases related to crimes against women. Out of these, three have declared cases related to rape (IPC Section-376) and six have declared cases related to kidnappings.
In their affidavits, 13 (81 per cent) out of 16 winners from JD (U), 29 (57 per cent) out of 51 winners from INC, 10 (43 per cent) out of 23 winners from DMK, 9 (41 per cent) out of 22 winners fielded by AITC and 116 (39 per cent) out of 301 winners from the BJP have declared criminal cases against themselves. Among the political parties, Janta Dal United (JDU) has the highest percentage of MPs with criminal records. Congress MP Dean Kuriakose from Idukki constituency in Kerala has declared 204 criminal cases against himself. These include cases related to committing culpable homicide, house trespass, robbery, criminal intimidation, etc. The figure is far more alarming when it comes to serious criminal cases. Around 159 (29 per cent) winners this time have declared serious criminal cases including cases related to rape, murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, crimes against women, etc.
Murder & Attempt to Murder cases
The ADR and Election Watch report compiled on the basis of sworn affidavits of candidates reveals that one Rajya Sabha MP namely Bhonsle Shrimant Udayanraje Pratapsinghmaharaj (BJP) from Maharashtra has declared cases related to murder (IPC section 302). As many as four Rajya Sabha MPs have declared cases related to attempt to murder (IPC Section 307).
Crimes against women
Four Rajya Sabha MPs have declared cases related to crimes against women. Out of 4 MPs, One Rajya Sabha MP namely K.C. Venugopal (INC) from Rajasthan has declared case related to rape (IPC Section-376). When it comes to party wise involvement of Rajya Sabha MPs with criminal cases, 14 (18 per cent) out of 77 Rajya Sabha MPs from BJP, 8 (20 per cent) out of 40 Rajya Sabha MPs from INC, 2 (15 per cent) out of 13 Rajya Sabha MPs from AITC, 3 (33 per cent) out of 9 Rajya Sabha MPs from BJD, 3 (50 per cent) out of 6 Rajya Sabha MPs from YSRCP and 2 (25 per cent) out of 8 Rajya Sabha MPs from SP have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.
Data of party wise Rajya Sabha
MPs with serious criminal cases shows that 5(6 per cent) out of 77 Rajya Sabha MPs from BJP, 6 (15 per cent) out of 40 Rajya Sabha MPs from INC, 1 (8 per cent) out of 13 Rajya Sabha MPs from AITC, 1 (11 per cent) out of 9 Rajya Sabha MPs from BJD, 3 (50 per cent) out of 6 Rajya Sabha MPs from YSRCP and 3 (60 per cent) out of 5 Rajya Sabha MPs from RJD have declared serious criminal cases against themselves as informed in their affidavits.
When we talk about state wise Rajya Sabha MPs with criminal cases, 6 (20 per cent) out of 30 Rajya Sabha MPs from Uttar Pradesh, 8 (42 per cent) out of 19 Rajya Sabha MPs from Maharashtra, 4 (22 per cent) out of 18 Rajya Sabha MPs from Tamil Nadu, 2 (13 per cent) out of 16 Rajya Sabha MPs from West Bengal and 8 (53 per cent) out of 15 Rajya Sabha MPs from Bihar have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.
Another interesting factor is that 86 Rajya Sabha MPs have assets over 10 crore each while 36 have assets of over five crore each. In fact out of the 229 sitting Rajya Sabha MPs analysed, 203 (89 per cent) are crorepatis. Among major parties, 69 (90 per cent)out of 77 Rajya Sabha MPs from BJP, 37 (93 per cent) out of 40 Rajya Sabha MPs from INC, 9 (100 per cent) Rajya Sabha MPs from AIADMK and 9 (69 per cent)out of 13 Rajya Sabha MPs from AITC are crorepatis.
Rich MPs
Among the major parties, the average assets per MP for 77 BJP Rajya Sabha MPs analysed is 27.74 crores, 40 INC Rajya Sabha MPs have average assets of 38.96 crores, 13 AITC Rajya Sabha MPs have average assets worth 3.46 crores and 9 AIADMK Rajya Sabha MPs have average assets of 12.40 crores. The top three Rajya Sabha MPs with high assets are Mahendra Prasad from JD(U) Bihar, Alla Ayodhya Rami Reddy, YSRCP Andhra Pradesh and Jaya Amitabh.
As many as 24 (10 per cent) Rajya Sabha MPs have declared their educational qualification to be between 8thpass and 12th pass while 200 (87 per cent) Rajya Sabha MPs have declared having an educational qualification of graduate or above. A total of 5 Rajya Sabha MPs are Diploma Holders. Four (2 per cent) Rajya Sabha MPs have declared their age to be between 31 and 40 years while 117 (51 per cent) Rajya Sabha MPs have declared their age to be between 41 and 60 years. There are 105(46 per cent) Rajya Sabha MPs who have declared their age to be between 61 to 80 years. There are 3 Rajya Sabha MPs who have declared their age to be above 80 years. Out of 229 Rajya Sabha MPs, only 22 (10 per cent) Rajya Sabha MPs are women.
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