Criminals, ‘crorepatis’ to rule India

The affidavits of 533 declared winners filed before the Election Commission show that there are 150 new MPs with criminal cases pending against them. Of these, 73 face penal charges, according to the autonomous body National Election Watch.

Compared to 2004, the number of MPs with criminal records has gone up. There were 128 MPs with criminal cases in the 2004 Lok Sabha, 55 of them with serious criminal records. There is an increase of about 17.2 per cent in the number of MPs with criminal records and 30.9 per cent increase in the number of MPs with criminal records.

Congress MP Vitthalbhai Hansrajbhai Radadiya from Gujarat faces the maximum number of criminal charges. He has a total of 16 pending cases, of which five are of a serious nature. The maximum number of cases under the Indian Penal Code - which relates to criminal rather than civil charges - are against Jagdis Sharma of the Janata Dal (United) from Jahanabad, Bihar, NEW said in its analysis.

It said the BJP had the maximum number of MPs with criminal cases - 42 MPs have criminal cases against them; 17 face serious criminal cases. The Congress closely follows with 41 MPs facing criminal cases, 12 facing serious charges. The Samajwadi Party has eight MPs with criminal cases, seven of them battling serious charges.

Amongst the states, UP has the maximum number of MPs with criminal cases - 31, out of which 22 have serious charges against them. Maharashtra comes next with 23 MPs having criminal cases, out of which nine face serious ones, followed by Bihar (17), Andhra Pradesh (11) and Gujarat (11).

On the financial background of candidates, NEW, which based its analysis on the affidavits of candidates and nomination papers, said there are 300 MPs with declared assets of over Rs1 crore - a huge increase from 154 such MPs in the last Lok Sabha.

The wealthiest is Namma Nageswara Rao of the TDP, elected from Khammam, with assets of Rs173 crore. He is followed by Navin Jindal (Congress) from Kurushetra, Haryana, with declared assets of Rs131 crore.

Electorate ousts 60 per cent of sitting MPs

Sixty per cent of the sitting MPs who contested the general election have lost, which is partly because of voter disenchantment but also due the 'delimitation' of constituencies since the last election, which has redrawn boundaries for Lok Sabha seats.

The Mulayam Singh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party had fielded 21 sitting MPs, of whom only nine were re-elected. Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party fielded 19 sitting MPs, but only three managed to keep their parliament seats.

Even in the case of the 'resurgent' Congress, only five of the 14 MPs it fielded were able to retain their seats. The leading opposition party BJP fielded six current MPs, of whom only two kept their seats, including the alienated Gandhi family member Maneka Gandhi. Erstwhile Bharatiya Janata Party president Murali Manohar Joshi lost his Rajya Sabha seat.

In all, 8,070 candidates representing 369 parties contested the elections to the 15th Lok Sabha. Only 36 parties managed to send one or more members to the Lok Sabha, while as many as 333 parties failed to win even a single seat.

(See: Analysis of 2009 Lok Sabha Winners based on criminal and financial background)