31 Rajya Sabha MPs, 73 facing criminal cases: ADR analysis

NEW DELHI: An analysis of the affidavits of 229 MPs out of the 233 members of the Lok Sabha has revealed that 73 (32%) MPs have announced criminal cases against themselves, 31 (14%) of whom are billionaires.As many as 36 (16%) MPs announced serious criminal cases. One MP was declared a murder case, four MPs were involved in attempted murder cases and three MPs were involved in crimes against women.Party data showed that 27 out of 99 (27 per cent) MPs from the BJP, 12 out of 28 (43 per cent) MPs from the Congress, 4 out of 13 (31 per cent) MPs from the Trinamool Congress, 4 out of 10 (40 per cent) MPs from the Aam Aadmi Party, all three MPs from the CPM and three MPs from the Bharatiya Janata Party announced criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits. The number is two out of eight DMK MLAs, two out of seven YSRCP MLAs, two out of five AIADMK MLAs, two out of four Samajwadi Party MLAs, two out of three RJD MLAs.In the report, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch analyzed and updated the criminal, financial and other background details of 229 of the 233 members of the House of Federation. In the current Union House, Jharkhand has one seat vacant. Affidavits from three MPs were not available and have not been analyzed. The analysis includes 37 recently elected members.In terms of financial background, of the 229 current RS MPs analyzed, 31 (14%) are billionaires. Among the major political parties, 6 BJP MPs, 5 Congress MPs, 4 YSRCP MPs, 2 AAP MPs, 2 BRS MPs and 3 NCP MPs have declared assets worth over Rs 100 crore.The total assets of the 229 sitting members of the House of Representatives are 27,638 billion rupees, while the average assets of the sitting members of the House of Federation is 1.206 billion rupees.BRS MP Bandi Partha Saradhi declared the highest assets with over Rs 5,300 crore, followed by AAP’s Rajinder Gupta with over Rs 5,053 crore and YSRCP’s Alla Ayodhya Rami Reddy with over Rs 2,577 crore.On the other hand, AAP MP Sant Balbir Singh is the poorest with assets worth around Rs 3 lakh. He is followed by Manipur’s Maharaja Sanajaoba Leishemba with about Rs 5 lakh and TMC’s Prakash Chik Baraik with about Rs 9 lakh.