Sena, RJD top 'criminal' lawmakers' list

Three-fourths of Shiv Sena MPs/MLAs face criminal charges; 46% of Lalu's colleagues indicted

The Shiv Sena (SS) and Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) have emerged as the parties with the highest proportion of legislators with criminal charges. Three of every four Sena lawmakers said they faced criminal charges, compared to nearly half of RJD’s MPs and MLAs, according to an analysis by National Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms.

The analysis by the non-governmental organisation was based on data provided by the candidates themselves in their affidavits before the Election Commission.

“There is only a 12 per cent chance of winning an election with a clean record, whereas there is a 23 per cent chance of winning an election with a serious criminal record,”said Anil Bairwal, national coordinator of National Election Watch.

While 103 of 137 SS legislators faced criminal charges, 42 of these faced serious criminal charges, according to the analysis. RJD’s score was 58 out of 125. Yadav’s arch rival Nitish Kumar’s ruling Janata Dal(U) was not far behind; 120 of its MPs/MLAs faced criminal charges and 75 of these were serious. Uttar Pradesh’s ruling Samajwadi party came next with a criminal score of 43 per cent. Of its 418 MPs/MLAs, 180 faced criminal charges. Of these, 92 were serious.

Andhra Pradesh-based Telugu Desam party came next, with 36 per cent, followed by Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party and the Communist Party of India (both 35 per cent).

While they lagged in the regional parties in percentage terms, the two national parties, the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led the list in absolute terms as they harboured the highest number of MPs/ MLAs with criminal charges.

Congress had 527 lawmakers who faced criminal charges, withe the BJP breathing down its neck at 520. The main opposition party did better in terms of serious criminal charges as 221 of its MPs/MLAs faced these against 205 for the congress.

The analysis also pointed out that the average assets of MPs/MLAs with criminal charges were higher than the average of all MPs/ MLAs analysed. It was also higher than the average assets of all candidates. While the average assets of 62,847 candidates who were analysed stood at Rs 1.4 crore, that of MPs/MLAs swelled to Rs 3.8 crore.

But the assets of lawmakers with criminal charges averaged Rs 4.3 crore and of those facing criminal charges higher at Rs 4.4 crore. “Since 2004, MPs/MLAs who have got elected on TDP tickets have the highest average asset of Rs 8.7 crore, followed by JD(S), whose assets averaged Rs 7.7 crore. The Shiromani Akali Dal came third at Rs 6.2 crore,” the analysis said.

The average assets of Congress MPs/MLAs was Rs 5.8 crore and those elected on BJP tickets was Rs 2.9 crore.

Out of the 62,847 candidates analysed since 2004, 11,063 have declared criminal cases. Of 8,790 MPs/MLAs analysed since 2004, 2,575 faced criminal charges.