ADR reports criminal cases for 40% sitting MPs; 25% serious criminal cases

New Delhi: Polls rights group Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) reported that almost 40% of currently sitting MPs have criminal cases filed against them, 25% of which have been declared serious criminal cases involving charges of murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, and crimes against women.

According to the ADR, the average asset value of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs is Rs 38.33 crores, and 53 (7%) of them are billionaires.

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 BJP, 43 (53 per cent) out of 81 MPs from Congress, 14 (39 per cent) out of 36 MPs from TMC, 5(83 per cent) out of 6 MPs from RJD, 6(75 per cent) out of 8 MPs from CPI(M), 3(27 per cent) out of 11 MPs from AAP, 13(42 per cent) out of 31 MPs from YSRCP and 3(38 per cent) out of 8 MPs from NCP have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

About 98 (25 per cent) out of 385 MPs from BJP, 26 (32 per cent) out of 81 MPs from Congress, 7 (19 per cent) out of 36 MPs from TMC, 3(50 per cent) out of 6 MPs from RJD, 2(25 per cent) out of 8 MPs from CPI(M), 1 (9 per cent) out of 11 MPs from AAP, 11(35 per cent) out of 31 MPs from YSRCP and 2(25 per cent) out of 8 MPs from 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 TRS MPs have average assets worth Rs. 383.51 crores, 8 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, 7 (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, 4(20 per cent) out of 20 MPs from Punjab, 1 (13 per cent) out of 8 MPs from Uttarakhand, 6(9 per cent) out of 65 MPs from Maharashtra and 3(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, 6 (7 per cent) out of 81 MPs from Congress, 7 (44 per cent) out of 16 MPs from TRS, 7(23 per cent) out of 31 MPs from YSRCP, 3(27 per cent) out of 11 MPs from AAP, 2(100 per cent) out of 2 MPs from SAD and 1(3 per cent) out of 36 MPs from AITC 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.

With PTI inputs