Fresh danger to democracy: Candidates with criminal records have better chances to win, says ADR-NEW

By A Representative

In a new analysis, Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch (NEW) have found that out of 62,847 candidates who contested either Parliamentary or State Assembly Elections since 2004, as many as 11,063 18% had declared that they had criminal cases against themselves. Further, of the 8,790 candidates (8%) candidates had declared that they had serious criminal cases against themselves.
While this may be considered something “normal”, as things stand in India today, what should be an eye-opener to those who stand by democratic values is, there are greater chances of winning elections if the candidate does not have a clean record. ADR-NEW analysis suggests, there is 12% chance of winning election with a clean record, while the chance of winning election with serious criminal record is 23%.
Of the sitting Lok Sabha MPs with criminal cases, they are 162 (30%) out of 543 Lok Sabha MPs, who have declared criminal cases against themselves. Of these, 76 or 14% of the current Lok Sabha MPs have declared serious criminal cases against themselves. Then, 40 out of 232 (17%) sitting MPs from Rajya Sabha have declared criminal cases against themselves. Of these, 16 (7%) of the current Rajya Sabha MPs have declared serious criminal cases.
As for the sitting MLAs who have declared criminal cases, 1,258 (31%) out of the 4032 from all state assemblies have declared criminal cases against themselves. Of these, 15% of the current MLAs from all state assemblies have declared serious criminal cases against themselves.
Taken together, out of the total number of 8,790 MPs/MLAs analyzed since 2004, as many as 2,575 or 29% have declared criminal cases against themselves and 1187 or 14% have serious criminal charges. A party-wise breakup suggests that the Indian National Congress has 8% and BJP has 13% MPs/MLAs with serious criminal charges.
Analysis of the data has also reveals that money power and muscle power have a large bearing on the chances of winning of a candidate. The average assets of 2,575 MPs/MLAs (analyzed since 2004) with criminal cases is Rs 4.30 crore and for 1187 MPs/MLAs with serious criminal charges has been Rs 4.38 crore. This is against the average assets of all candidates being Rs 1.37 crore, and average assets of MPs/MLAs being Rs 3.83 crore.
An analysis of the candidates with criminal cases getting party tickets for the second time shows that of those with criminal records (4,181) as many as 1,072 of them had a criminal case against themselves when they fought elections for the first time. Of these, 788 had cases when they fought for the second time also. “This means political parties gave tickets to 74% of candidates with criminal records the second time also despite having information on their criminal background from previous elections”, comments ADR-NEW analysis.
But what is of even more interest is that, the total number of candidates with criminal cases still increased the second time as there were 507 other candidates (out of 4,181) who showed no criminal cases in the first election but declared cases in the second round of elections. “Therefore, the total percent of candidates with criminal records given tickets by political parties rose from 26% to 31%”, the analysis says.
“If one looks at serious criminal cases a similar picture emerges. Of 540 candidates with serious charges, 353 or 65% were given tickets for the second time also. In addition to them there were 289 other candidates with no criminal cases in the first election, but who had declared cases in the second round of elections. This also shows that the total percent of candidates with serious criminal records given tickets by political parties rose from 12% to 15%”, it adds.
The analysis shows that cases against 788 contesting candidates have been pending since their declarations in the previous election. “This means that these candidates with pending criminal cases continue to contest elections, while charges against them remaining pending in Courts without any resolution and some of them even continue to sit as people’ representatives”, ADR-NEW analysis suggests.
Party wise MPs/MLAs who have declared criminal cases suggests that 75% of MPs/MLAs who have got elected on Shiv Sena (SS) tickets since 2004 have declared criminal cases against themselves (out of 137 MPs/MLAs from SS, 103 have declared criminal cases). Further, 46% of MPs/ MLAs elected on RJD tickets since 2004 have declared criminal cases against themselves (Out of 125 MPs/MLAs analyzed, 58 have declared criminal cases). Also, 44% of representatives elected on JD (U) tickets since 2004 have declared criminal cases against themselves (out of 272 MPs/MLAs analyzed, 120 have declared criminal cases).
Party wise BJP & INC MPs/MLAs who have declared criminal cases suggests that 31% of MPs/MLAs elected on BJP tickets since 2004 have declared criminal cases against themselves (out of the 1,689 MPs/MLAs from BJP, 520 have declared criminal cases). Also, 22% of MPs, MLAs and MLCs elected on INC tickets since 2004 have declared criminal cases against themselves (out of the 2451 MPs/MLAs from INC, 527 have declared criminal cases against themselves).

For more details see:
Ten years of elections: crime and money
List of MPs-MLAs with pending cases

Comments

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor* This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

India's health workers have no legal right for their protection, regrets NGO network

Counterview Desk In a letter to Union labour and employment minister Santosh Gangwar, the civil rights group Occupational and Environmental Health Network of India (OEHNI), writing against the backdrop of strike by Bhabha hospital heath care workers, has insisted that they should be given “clear legal right for their protection”.

Uttarakhand tunnel disaster: 'Question mark' on rescue plan, appraisal, construction

By Bhim Singh Rawat* As many as 40 workers were trapped inside Barkot-Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi after a portion of the 4.5 km long, supposedly completed portion of the tunnel, collapsed early morning on Sunday, Nov 12, 2023. The incident has once again raised several questions over negligence in planning, appraisal and construction, absence of emergency rescue plan, violations of labour laws and environmental norms resulting in this avoidable accident.

History, culture and literature of Fatehpur, UP, from where Maulana Hasrat Mohani hailed

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Maulana Hasrat Mohani was a member of the Constituent Assembly and an extremely important leader of our freedom movement. Born in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh, Hasrat Mohani's relationship with nearby district of Fatehpur is interesting and not explored much by biographers and historians. Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri has written a book on Maulana Hasrat Mohani and Fatehpur. The book is in Urdu. He has just come out with another important book, 'Hindi kee Pratham Rachna: Chandayan' authored by Mulla Daud Dalmai.' During my recent visit to Fatehpur town, I had an opportunity to meet Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri and recorded a conversation with him on issues of history, culture and literature of Fatehpur. Sharing this conversation here with you. Kindly click this link. --- *Human rights defender. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/vbrawat , X @freetohumanity, Skype @vbrawat

Job opportunities decreasing, wages remain low: Delhi construction workers' plight

By Bharat Dogra* It was about 32 years back that a hut colony in posh Prashant Vihar area of Delhi was demolished. It was after a great struggle that the people evicted from here could get alternative plots that were not too far away from their earlier colony. Nirmana, an organization of construction workers, played an important role in helping the evicted people to get this alternative land. At that time it was a big relief to get this alternative land, even though the plots given to them were very small ones of 10X8 feet size. The people worked hard to construct new houses, often constructing two floors so that the family could be accommodated in the small plots. However a recent visit revealed that people are rather disheartened now by a number of adverse factors. They have not been given the proper allotment papers yet. There is still no sewer system here. They have to use public toilets constructed some distance away which can sometimes be quite messy. There is still no...

Women's rights leaders told to negotiate with Muslimness, as India's donor agencies shun the word Muslim

By A Representative Former vice-president Hamid Ansari has sharply criticized donor agencies engaged in nongovernmental development work, saying that they seek to "help out" marginalizes communities with their funds, but shy away from naming Muslims as the target group, something, he insisted, needs to change. Speaking at a book release function in Delhi, he said, since large sections of Muslims are poor, they need political as also social outreach.

Warning bells for India: Tribal exploitation by powerful corporate interests may turn into international issue

By Ashok Shrimali* Warning bells are ringing for India. Even as news drops in from Odisha that Adivasi villages, one after another, are rejecting the top UK-based MNC Vedanta's plea for mining, a recent move by two senior scholars Felix Padel and Samarendra Das suggests the way tribals are being exploited in India by powerful international and national business interests may become an international issue. In fact, one has only to count days when things may be taken up at the United Nations level, with India being pushed to the corner. Padel, it may be recalled, is a major British authority on indigenous peoples across the world, with several scholarly books to his credit.

Gujarat Bitcoin scam worth Rs 5,000 crore "linked" with BJP leaders: Need for Supreme Court monitored probe

By Shaktisinh Gohil* BJP hit a jackpot in the form of demonetisation, which it used as an alibi to convert black money into white in Gujarat. Even as party scrambles for answers of how the Ahmedabad District Cooperative Bank (ADCB), whose director is BJP president Amit Shah, received old currency worth Rs 745.58 crore in just five days, and how Rs 3118.51 crore was deposited in 11 district cooperative banks linked with Gujarat BJP leaders, a new mega Bitcoin scam, worth more than Rs 5,000 crore has been unraveled.

Counterview

Search This Blog