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Monday, May 18, 2009
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National

MPs with criminal charges aplenty in new House

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: A total of 8,070 candidates representing 369 parties contested the recent elections to the 15th Lok Sabha. Only 36 parties were successful in sending one or more members to the Lok Sabha. As many as 333 parties did not win even a single seat. Looking at the affidavits of 533 declared winners, National Election Watch (NEW) has found that there are 150 new MPs with criminal cases pending against them. Out of these, 73 MPs face serious charges.

Compared to 2004, the number of MPs with criminal records has gone up. There were 128 MPs with criminal cases in the 2004 Lok Sabha — 55 had serious criminal records. There is an increase of about 17.2 per cent in the number of MPs with criminal records and 30.9 per cent increase in the number of MPs with serious criminal records.

The maximum criminal charges are against Congress MP Vitthalbhai Hansrajbhai Radadiya from Gujarat. He has a total of 16 cases, out of which five are of a serious nature. The maximum number of serious Indian Penal Code charges are against Jagdis Sharma of the JD(U) from Jahanabad, Bihar, NEW said in its analysis.

It said the BJP had the maximum number of MPs with criminal cases — 42 MPs have criminal cases against them; 17 face serious criminal cases. The Congress closely follows with 41 MPs having criminal cases; 12 facing serious charges. The Samajwadi Party has eight MPs with criminal cases, seven of them battling serious charges.

Amongst the States, U.P. has the maximum number of MPs with criminal cases — 31, out of which 22 have serious charges against them. Maharashtra comes next with 23 MPs having criminal cases, out of which nine face serious ones, followed by Bihar (17), Andhra Pradesh (11) and Gujarat (11).

Crorepati MPs

On the financial background of candidates, NEW, which based its analysis on the affidavits of candidates and nomination papers, said there are 300 crorepati MPs — a huge increase from 154 MPs in the last Lok Sabha. The wealthiest is Namma Nageswara Rao of the TDP from Khammam, with a declared asset of Rs. 173 crore. He is followed by Navin Jindal (Congress) from Kurushetra, Haryana, with declared assets of Rs. 131 crore.

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