94 DMK, 15 AIADMK MLAs in TN have criminal cases against them: Report
In TN's new Legislative Assembly, 94 of the freshly elected DMK MLAs, and 15 of those from the AIADMK, have criminal cases filed against them; these mostly relate to political offences such as protesting against petrol price hikes, Cauvery issue and CAA
In Tamil Nadu’s new Legislative Assembly, 94 of the freshly elected DMK MLAs, and 15 of those from the AIADMK, have criminal cases filed against them, a report by the Movement for Electoral Reform (MER) has noted. The report was released by MER Convenor R Rangaraj.
The AIADMK won 66 seats in the April 6 election (whose results were announced on May 2); hence the 15 MLAs with criminal cases represent nearly 23% of the total. The DMK, on the other hand, won 125 seats, and the 94 MLAs with criminal cases form a whopping 75% of the total, said the MER report.
The organisation released both Volume 1 and Volume 2 of its report, pertaining to the newly elected MLAs and defeated candidates from the AIADMK and the DMK, respectively. In all, there were 1,224 criminal cases against 94 new DMK MLAs, and 242 against party members who contested but lost the election, said Rangaraj. This means there are 1,466 criminal cases against the DMK members who contested the recent elections.
The AIADMK had fielded 40 candidates with a total of 104 criminal cases. Of that, 15 members with 21 cases were elected to the new Assembly, said Rangaraj.
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The cases against the DMK and AIADMK candidates were identified from their own sworn affidavits filed before the Election Commission.
Political cases
“In the case of the DMK, the number is vastly higher due to the cases filed for political reasons,” Rangaraj observed. They mostly pertained to the party leaders’ participation in demonstrations over price rise, Cauvery issue, CAA (Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019), or petrol price hike, he added.
“Since there was AIADMK rule in the state for 10 years, it was natural that there would be a number of cases filed for normal political activities (against DMK members),” he further noted.
A large number of cases had been filed against DMK MLAs and others for violation of prohibitory orders imposed due to the coronavirus — what is referred to as unlawful assembly.