As the newly elected members of Lok Sabha are all set to step into the Parliament, a fresh survey of data on Election Commission of India (ECI) carried out by the Association of democratice Reforms (ADR) shows that there is an increase of 55% in number of Lok Sabha MPs with declared criminal case against them since 2009. Also, this year Lok Sabha will see 93% crorepati Members of Parliament (MPs) with average assets worth Rs 46.34 crore.
In 2024 Lok Sabha elections, 46% of winning candidates i.e., 251 (the highest ever number) out of 543 have criminal cases registered against them. 31% or 170 winning Lok Sabha members in 2024 have have serious criminal cases against them.
27 of them have been also been convicted as per the information shared by these candidates with the ECI.
According to ADR, there has been a 124% increase in the number of MPs with declared serious criminal cases since 2009.
A look at the past year data reveals that number of winning canddates with serious criminal cases against them has also increased from 159 (29%) MPs in 2019, 112 (21%) MPs in 2014, and 76 (14%) MPs in 2009.
While 4 winning candidates have declared cases of murder, 27 newly elected MPs have attempt to murder cases against them.
Fifteen winning candidates have declared cases related to crimes against women, including two facing charges of rape under IPC Section 376.
Party wise breakdown shows that 39% of winning BJP candidates (94 out of 240) have criminal cases against them.
49% of winning candidates of Congress (49 of 99) have criminal cases against them. 45% of the Samajwadi Party’s (21 out of 37) winning candidates face criminal charges.
45% of the TMC’s 29 new MPs, 59% of the DMK's MPs, 50% of the TDP’s 16 new MPs, and 71% of the Shiv Sena’s seven winning candidates have declared criminal cases.
26% BJP's new MPs, 32% Congress MPs and 46% of SP MPs have declared serious criminal cases.
43 newly elected Lok Sabha members have cases of hate speech against them.
4 winning candidates have declared cases related to kidnapping.
The ADR analysis states that the chances of winning for a candidate with declared criminal cases in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections were at 15.3%, compared to just 4.4% for candidates contesting with a clean background.
Prominent names of MPs with criminal cases against them include Rahul Gandhi, Afzal Ansari, Jagdambika Pal, Papu Yadav, Chandrashekhar Azad, Amritpal Singh.
Dr Chandra Shekhar Pemmasani of Andhra Pradesh has the highest recorded assets, followed by Konda Vishweshwar Reddy of Telangana and Naveen Jindal of Haryana.