40% sitting MPs face criminal cases, 25% with serious charges: ADR report

Around 40 per cent of sitting Members of Parliament have criminal cases registered against them, according to their self-sworn affidavits, a report by poll rights body ADR has revealed.

Around 25 per cent have declared serious criminal cases, with charges of murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, and crimes against women slapped on them. While Kerala tops the list in terms of percentage of MPs with a criminal record, Bihar is at the top when it comes to serious crimes.

The average worth of assets per MP from Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha is Rs 38.33 crore, and 53 (7 per cent) are billionaires, the report says.

Source of data

The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and the National Election Watch (NEW) have analysed the self-sworn affidavits of 763 sitting MPs out of the 776 seats of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

This data has been extracted from affidavits filed by the MPs prior to contesting their last elections and any subsequent by-elections. Four Lok Sabha seats and one Rajya Sabha seat are vacant and four Rajya Sabha seats of Jammu and Kashmir are undefined.

The affidavits of one Lok Sabha MP and three Rajya Sabha MPs could not be analysed, as the documents were not available.

Of the 763 sitting MPs analysed, 306 (40 per cent) have declared criminal cases against them, and 194 (25 per cent) have declared serious criminal cases, it said.

State-wise figures

Among the MPs, 23 (79 per cent) of the 29 from Kerala, 41 (73 per cent) of the 56 from Bihar, 37 (57 per cent) of the 65 from Maharashtra, 13 (54 per cent) of the 24 from Telangana, and 5 (50 per cent) of the 10 from Delhi have declared criminal cases against themselves in their self-sworn affidavits, the ADR said.

Around 28 (50 per cent) of the 56 MPs from Bihar, nine (38 per cent) of the 24 from Telangana, 10 (34 per cent) of the 29 from Kerala, 22 (34 per cent) of the 65 from Maharashtra, and 37 (34 per cent) of the 108 from Uttar Pradesh have declared serious criminal cases in their self-sworn affidavits.

Party-wise figures

Around 139 (36 per cent) of the 385 MPs from BJP, 43 (53 per cent) of the 81 from Congress, 14 (39 per cent) of the 36 from TMC, 5 (83 per cent) of the 6 from RJD, 6 (75 per cent) of the 8 from CPI(M), 3 (27 per cent) of the 11 from AAP, 13 (42 per cent) of the 31 from YSRCP, and 3 (38 per cent) of the 8 MPs from NCP have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

Around 98 (25 per cent) of the 385 MPs from BJP, 26 (32 per cent) of the 81 MPs from Congress, 7 (19 per cent) of the 36 MPs from TMC, 3 (50 per cent) of the 6 from RJD, 2 (25 per cent) of the 8 from CPI(M), 1 (9 per cent) of the 11 from AAP, 11 (35 per cent) of the 31 from YSRCP, and 2 (25 per cent) of the 8 MPs from NCP have declared serious criminal cases in their affidavits.

Nature of crime

Eleven sitting MPs have declared cases related to murder (IPC Section 302), 32 have declared cases of attempt to murder (IPC Section 307), while 21 have declared cases related to crimes against women. Of these 21 MPs, four have declared cases related to rape (IPC Section 376).

Average assets

The state with the highest average assets per MP is Telangana (24 MPs), with average assets of Rs 262.26 crore, followed by Andhra Pradesh (36 MPs) with average assets worth Rs 150.76 crore, and Punjab (20 MPs) with average assets worth Rs 88.94 crore.

The state with the lowest average assets of MPs is Lakshadweep (1 MP) with average assets worth Rs 9.38 lakh, followed by Tripura (3 MPs) with average assets worth Rs 1.09 crore and Manipur (3 MPs) with average assets worth Rs 1.12 crore.

Party-wise assets

Among the major parties, the average assets per MP for 385 BJP MPs analysed is Rs 18.31 crore; 81 Congress MPs have average assets worth Rs 39.12 crore; 36 TMC MPs have average assets worth Rs 8.72 crore; 31 YSRCP MPs have average assets worth Rs 153.76 crore; 16 BRS MPs have average assets worth Rs 383.51 crores, 8 NCP MPs have average assets worth Rs 30.11 crore, and 11 AAP MPs have average assets of Rs 119.84 crore.

Around 14 (4 per cent) of the 385 MPs from BJP, 6 (7 per cent) of the 81 from Congress, 7 (44 per cent) of the 16 from BRS, 7 (23 per cent) of the 31 from YSRCP, 3 (27 per cent) of the 11 from AAP, 2 (100 per cent) of the 2 MPs from SAD, and 1 (3 per cent) of the 36 MPs from AITC have declared assets worth more than Rs 100 crore.

The total worth of assets of 385 BJP MPs analysed is Rs 7,051 crore; for 16 BRS MPs analysed is Rs 6,136 crore, for 31 YSRCP MPs analysed is Rs 4,766 crore, for 81 Congress MPs analysed is Rs 3,169 crore, and 11 AAP MPs have total assets worth Rs 1,318 crore.

State-wise assets

Among the 53 billionaire MPs, 7 (29 per cent) of the 24 Telangana MPs, nine (25 per cent) of the 36 MPs from Andhra Pradesh, two (20 per cent) of the 10 from Delhi, 4 (20 per cent) of the 20 from Punjab, 1 (13 per cent) of the 8 from Uttarakhand, 6 (9 per cent) of the 65 from Maharashtra, and 3 (8 per cent) of the 39 from Karnataka have declared assets worth more than Rs 100 crore.

The total assets of 763 sitting MPs are worth Rs 29,251 crore.