Almost 90 per cent of lawmakers in the newly elected Indian Parliament are millionaires and more than 40 per cent of lawmakers face criminal charges – some for serious crimes like murder and rape – according to the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR).
MPs with criminal background in Indian parliament:
Out of the 539 winners analysed in Lok Sabha 2019, 233 (43%) winners have declared criminal cases against themselves.
159 (29%) winners in Lok Sabha 2019 Elections have declared serious criminal cases including cases related to rape, murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, crimes against women etc.
An INC winner, Dean Kuriakose from Idukki constituency has declared 204 criminal cases against himself, including cases related to committing culpable homicide, house trespass, robbery, criminal intimidation etc.
11 winners which include BJP’s Pragya Singh Thakur, BSP’s Atul Kumar Singh and INC Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury have declared cases related to murder.
Sadhvi Pragya Thakur, a newly elected BJP MP, faces a terrorism charge over a 2008 attack near a mosque that killed six people. She denies the charges. Source: Twitter
While 19 winners have declared cases related to crimes against women, three of them have declared cases related to rape.
The report said 116 of the 303 lawmakers from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) face charges, including one for terrorism.
Source: Supplied
Twenty-nine of the 52 Congress MPs face cases.
Millionaire MPs in Indian Parliament:
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath's son Nakul Nath is the richest MP in the new Lok Sabha, according to ADR. Source: Twitter
The number of millionaires in the Indian Parliament has gone up from 315 in 2009 to 475 in 2019.
The report said 265 of the 303 winners from the BJP were millionaires while 43 out of 51 winners from the INC, 22 out of 23 winners from DMK and 20 out of 22 winners of the AITC have declared assets more than ten million Indian rupees.
Source: ADR
The 3 richest winners in the Lok Sabha 2019 Elections were Nakul Nath, Vasanthakumar H and DK Suresh, all from the Congress party.
Source: ADR
Methodology:
ADR’s findings are based on the candidates' affidavits obtained from the Election Commission of India.
ADR along with National Election Watch analysed the self-sworn affidavits of 539 out of 542 winners in the 2019 Indian elections.
While Vellore constituency elections were cancelled, three winners were not analysed due to the unavailability of their clear and complete affidavits on the ECI website.
