The Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) analysis shows that 25 out of the 70 outgoing members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) in Delhi had criminal cases against themselves in 2013. Out of these, 20 of them had serious criminal charges filed against them, including attempt to murder, dacoity and assault against women. 

 

Delhi Election Watch (DEW) and ADR analysed 70 outgoing MLAs out of the 796 candidates in fray during the previous Delhi assembly polls using data from the affidavits filed by the candidates in 2013. According to the analysis, about 36% of them have registered criminal cases against them, 73% of them are crorepatis and 47% had an educational qualification of just 12th pass or below.  Moreover, only 4% of the MLAs analysed were women. 

 

A snapshot of the key findings of the report is presented in the figures below: 

 

 

 

As mentioned above, a shocking 36% of the MLAs analysed had declared criminal cases registered against them. This includes 55% of the candidates from BJP (17 out of 31), 25% of the Indian National Congress-INC (2 out of 8), while AAP was not too far behind at 11% (3 out of 28). One candidate each from JD(U), SAD (Akali Dal) and an independent candidate also had criminal charges against them. 

 

One candidate from INC has been charged twice with Section 307 of the IPC (attempt to murder), two candidates – one from BJP and one from INC have been charged with Section 354 (Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), and several of them have been charged with Section 147 (rioting). Almost none of them have been convicted for any of their charges as yet.

 

 

Average asset per MLA during the 2013 Assembly Elections in Delhi was Rs10.83 crore, compared to an average of Rs2.94 crore in 2008. MLAs from BJP had the highest average assets of Rs12.49 crore, followed by Congress with Rs10.25 crore and AAP with Rs1.82 crore. Another highlight from the analysis is that the only candidate analysed from SAD had average assets worth over Rs235 crore. 

 

Moreover, 30 out of the 31 MLAs from BJP (97%) and 12 out of the 28 MLAs (43%) from AAP were crorepatis. 

 

About one-fourth (26%) of the MLAs analysed were under the age of 40, while 32% were between 41 and 50 and 40% between 51 and 70. Out of these, a little over a half (51%) had educational qualifications equivalent to a graduate degree or above. 47% were just 12% pass or below. 

 

With the ongoing Delhi elections, one hopes that the citizens from the national capital would chose candidates that are more able and educated and less with criminal records, to represent their constituency.