According to a recent report published by the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), almost thirty two percent of sitting members of the Rajya Sabha have announced criminal charges against them, which is a cause of alarm because of the criminalisation of politics. The results are obtained due to the analysis of the affidavits provided by 229 out of 233 MPs including the 37 newly elected members.
The report also indicates that there are 73 MPs with pending criminal cases with 36 being serious cases. These are one-murder case, four cases of attempt to murder and three cases of crime against women. Party-wise records indicate that 27 MPs of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have declared cases, and it is 12 in Indian national Congress, and other parties such as TMC, AAP, CPI(M), and BRS.
Another aspect that the report brings to light is the great wealth disparity among the legislators. About 14 percent of the MPs/31 members have reported assets valued at more than 100 crore. The average assets of a Rajya Sabha MP are 120.69 crore which indicates the high financial position of most of the legislators.
BRS leader Bandi Partha Saradhi is the richest MP with assets of over 5,300 crore, second is AAP’s Rajinder Gupta and third is YSRCP’s Alla Ayodhya Rami Reddy. On the other extreme, there are also MPs who have only announced a small amount of assets with the Sant Balbir Singh of AAP being one of the poorest ones.
The ADR report highlights the volume of criminal cases and the increasing level of concentration of wealth among the India lawmakers.
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