The BJP insists it is the ‘party with a difference’, but more than a third of its MPs have criminal cases against them.
The BJP insists it is the ‘party with a difference’, in terms of principles and morality, but more than a third of its newly-elected MPs have criminal cases against them. Overall, there will be more tainted MPs in parliament than in 2004.
Forty-three MPs from the BJP have criminal cases against them, of whom 19 have been booked for serious offences. This does not include what party functionaries usually refer to as “frivolous charges” —- getting booked for flouting prohibitory orders, breaking the curfew and similar violations.
The figures were published in a report by The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), and National Election Watch (NEW), a civil society alliance working for clean politics and governance.
Congress ranks next in the tainted MPs list -41 of its members have cases against them, while 12 have been booked for serious offences. The Samajwadi Party has 9 MPs, of whom 8 have committed grave offences. Next is line is the Shiv Sena, which has 8 tainted MPs, three of whom have serious charges.
A top ten list of tainted MPs has three from the BJP—- Pratapsinh Chauhan and Chandrakant Raghunath Patil from Gujarat and Varun Gandhi from UP. The Congress has two, both from Gujarat —- Kunwarjibhai Mohanbhai Bavalia and Vitthalbhai Hansrajbhai Radadiya. The ‘topper’ is Jagdish Sharma, the JD(U) MP from Jahanabad, Bihar. RJD chief Lalu Prasad is the most prominent name in the list.
There were 128 MPs tainted MPs in the 2004 Lok Sabha and 55 of them were accused of serious crimes. This time, there’s been a 19.5% increase in the number of MPs with criminal records and a 34.5% increase in the number of MPs with serious criminal records. This time, there are 153 MPs with criminal charges and 74 with serious criminal charges.
However, all politicians with a criminal past were not successful. The top 5 MPs with criminal cases from the 2004 Lok Sabha did not win. Others rejects are Atiq Ahmad, Mitrasen Yadav, Mukhtar Ansari, Taslimuddin, Abu Azmi and Mohd Tahir.
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