30% sitting MPs, MLAs are history-sheeters Bharti Jain, TNN | NEW DELHI: Even as fate of the ordinance reversing the Supreme Court judgement on immediate disqualification of convicted MPs/MLAs hangs in balance, a look at the pending criminal cases against sitting MPs and MLAs brings home the rampant criminalization of politics in the country. For, 1,460 of the 4,807 representatives elected to the Lok Sabha in 2009 and state assemblies since 2008 have declared criminal cases against them. As many as 688 MPs/MLAs have declared serious criminal cases declared against themselves in their election affidavits, according to data compiled by the Association of Democratic Rights (ADR) and National Election Watch (NEW). In percentage terms, 30% of the sitting MPs and MLAs (162 of 543 MPs and 1,258 of 4,032 MLAs) have declared their criminal background, of which 14% are facing serious criminal cases and could invite disqualification — if convicted henceforth and sentenced to over two years in prison. As many as 313 or 31% of 1,017 MPs/MLAs elected on BJP tickets have declared criminal cases, while the corresponding figure of Congress MPs/MLAs is lower at 305 or 21% of a total of 1,433 representatives of the grand old party. Much worse off are parties like JMM — with 82% of its MPs and MLAs having declared criminal cases— RJD (64%) and Samajwadi Party (48%). The Jharkhand assembly — elected in 2009 — has the highest percentage of elected MLAs with declared criminal cases. And, 55 of the 74 MLAs, or a whopping 74%, have declared criminal cases in their poll affidavits. Around 58% of the MLAs elected to Bihar assembly in 2010 declared criminal cases against themselves, while the corresponding figure for UP — during the 2012 state poll — is 47%. The malaise of criminal antecedents extended to the entire bouquet of candidates that faced Lok Sabha/assembly polls since 2008. Of the 47,389 candidates analyzed by ADR, 8,071, or 17% declared criminal cases against them. As many as 3,759, or 8% of these have declared serious criminal cases. The convictions declared by elected members of Parliament/legislatures were, however, minuscule, with just 24 of the 4,807 analyzed MPs and MLAs declaring the same. This translates to barely 0.5% MPs/MLAs declaring in their affidavits that they have been convicted at some point in a court of law. The declared convictions of contesting candidates were even lower, with just 155 (0.3%) of the 47,389 candidates recording in their affidavits that they have been convicted earlier. ADR attributed the low conviction rates to the "excruciatingly slow pace at which hearings of cases proceed in courts". It also indicated the possibility of candidates refraining from declaring conviction in their affidavits, once an appeal in a higher court is admitted challenging the conviction. "In such as case, this candidate may merely mention that an appeal is pending in a court and may not declare the conviction in the appropriate section in the affidavit," the ADR said adding that the candidate may also suppress his conviction altogether in the absence of a "reliable mechanism to scrutinize these affidavits".
Posted on: Sat, 28 Sep 2013 16:08:09 +0000