NEW DELHI – New Indian Parliament makes history for being the largest Housewith MPs having serious criminal record.
Nearly half of the newly-elected Lok Sabha members have criminal chargesagainst them, a 26% increase as compared to 2014, according to theAssociation of Democratic Reforms.Of the 539 winning candidates analysed bythe ADR, as many as 233 MPs or 43% have criminal charges.
The BJP has 116 MPs or 39% of its winning candidates with criminal cases,followed by 29 MPs (57%) from the Congress, 13 (81%) from the JDU, 10 (43%)from the DMK and nine (41%) from the TMC, the ADR said. In 2014, 185 LokSabha members (34%) had criminal charges and 112 MPs had serious criminalcases against them.
In 2009, 162 (nearly 30%) out of the 543 Lok Sabha MPs had criminal chargesand 14% had serious criminal charges, it said.
In the new Lok Sabha, nearly 29% of the cases are related to rape, murder,attempt to murder or crime against women, the non-governmental organisationsaid.
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“There is an increase of 109% (in 2019) in the number of MPs with declaredserious criminal cases since 2009,” it said.Eleven winners — five from theBJP, two from the BSP, one each from the Congress, NCP and the YSR CongressParty, and an Independent — have murder charges against them, the ADR said.
Pragya Singh Thakur, the newly-elected BJP MP from Bhopal, faces terrorcharges in connection with the 2008 Malegaon blasts. The Bharatiya JanataParty has faced a lot of criticism for fielding her.Moreover, 29 winnershave declared cases related to hate speech, it said.
Dean Kuriakose from the Congress, who won from the Idukki constituency inKerala, has 204 criminal cases against him, including culpable homicide,house trespass, robbery, criminal intimidation, it added.
