150 MPs with criminal charges, 300 crorepatis, six parent-offspring pairs.
A large number of young MPs, many with criminal charges against them, a staggering number of persons hailing from “political families”, and a huge number of crorepatis will mark out the 15th Lok Sabha from its predecessors.
There is a disappointing 15% increase in the number of MPs facing criminal charges in the incoming Lok Sabha, which will also have at least 225 MPs who are less than 50 years old.
Despite the high-decibel campaigns led by film stars and non-governmental organisations (NGO), there are more criminals in the incoming Lok Sabha than the previous one.
According to National Election Watch (NEW), a coalition of more than 1,200 NGOs that fielded film stars and media campaign for electoral reforms, especially against criminalisation of politics, 150 of the newly elected MPs have criminal cases pending against them. Of them, 73 MPs face serious charges.
In 2004, there were only 128 MPs with criminal cases in the Lok Sabha, of whom 55 had serious criminal records. So, in effect, there is a staggering increase of 17.2% in MPs with criminal records and 30.9% increase in the number of MPs with serious criminal records, as compared to the previous Lok Sabha.
The Congress’s MP from Gujarat, Vitthalbhai Hansrajbhai Radadiya, holds the dubious distinction of having the most criminal cases against an MP. He has a total of 16 cases, of which 5 are of a serious nature.
The maximum number of serious charges under the IPC are against Jagdish Sharma of the JD(U) from Jahanabad, Bihar.
The incoming Lok Sabha would also reaffirm the fact that in Indian politics, family is the source of power. There are at least six parent-offspring pairs in the Lok Sabha: Mulayam Singh Yadav and son Akhilesh, Sonia Gandhi and son Rahul, Deve Gowda and son Kumaraswamy, Maneka Gandhi and son Varun, Ajit Singh and son Jayant Chaudhary, Sharad Pawar and daughter Supriya Sule. There is also Farooq Abdullah and his son-in-law Sachin Pilot.
From Tamil Nadu, the younger generation of Karunanidhi’s family would also step in: son Azhagiri and nephew Dayanidhi Maran would join the Lok Sabha. His daughter Kanimozhi is already in the Rajya Sabha.
In state after state, a large number of MPs who have won this Lok Sabha election are from politically powerful families or are erstwhile royalties.
The Lok Sabha elections are also turning out to be stupendously difficult for ordinary Indians, as the cost of fighting elections shoots through the roof. In fact, there has been an almost 100% increase in the number of crorepatis in Lok Sabha from 2004.
In the incoming Lok Sabha, there are 300 MPs who, as per their affidavits, are crorepatis. The richest MP is Namma Nageswara Rao of Andhra Pradesh, who won on a TDP ticket from Khammam. He has declared an asset of Rs173 crore. Second is Naveen Jindal of Kurukshetra of the Congress party, with a declared asset of Rs131 crores.
Over 66% of the Congress’s MPs are crorepatis: 137 of the 206 winners. Compared to the Congress, only 50 % of the BJP MPs are crorepatis: 58 of its 116. The SP and BSP percentage is closer to the Congress: 14 of the 22 winners are crorepaties in the SP; while of the BSP’s 21 MPs, 13 are crorepatis.
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