'20 re-elected Madhya Pradesh lawmakers face criminal cases'

A total of 20 of the 65 legislators re-elected to the Madhya Pradesh assembly have declared criminal cases against them, according to an organisation working for electoral reforms.

"There are 20 re-elected MLAs (legislators) who have declared criminal cases in 2013. Out of these 20, 10 had declared criminal cases in the last assembly elections too," the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Madhya Pradesh Election Watch (MPEW) said in a release after analyzing the affidavits of all 230 newly-elected legislators.

It said there has been an increase in the number of legislators with declared criminal cases in Madhya Pradesh assembly.

According to the press release, 32 percent or 73 legislators have declared criminal cases against them, while after the 2008 polls, the figure was 26 percent or 58 legislators out of the 219 analysed.

The release also said that of the total 120 candidates from the Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party who faced serious criminal cases, 77 lost the elections.

It said that 48 of 165 BJP legislators had declared criminal cases in 2013 while the number was 29 out of 138 in 2008. For the Congress, the number of legislatorss with criminal cases was 22 of 58 in 2013 compared to 23 of 66 in 2008.

The release said that average asset of these 65 re-elected lawmakers in 2013 was Rs 7.51 crore whereas it was Rs. 1.92 crore in 2008.

As many as 161 (70 percent) out of 230 legislators were crorepatis whereas the number was 87 (40 percent) of the 219 analysed in 2008.

A total of 72 percent out of 165 BJP legislators were crorepatis while 40 percent of 58 legislators of Congress were crorepatis.