The average assets of each of the 1,326 MPs and MLAs elected between 2004 and 2023 in Maharashtra were Rs 10.6 crore with forty of them rich enough to be rupee billionaires.
An analysis of the MPs and MLAs elected in this period showed that 715, more than 50%, have criminal cases with 422 candidates involved in serious criminal offences.
The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), a body of professors, economists and academicians from prominent institutes that conducts Election Watches, and the Maharashtra Election Watch, released a report on Friday of an analysis of 14,117 candidates in Maharashtra who contested the elections and those who were elected during the two decades starting from 2004 in the Assembly, Lok Sabha elections and the bypolls.
The members of ADR, including its co-founder Ajit Ranade, stated that an act to bar tainted individuals from contesting elections was the need of the hour considering the pattern of candidates contesting and winning elections in the last two decades studied by the group. Ranade is also the vice-chancellor of Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics in Pune.
The report also said that the number of elected candidates having maximum criminal cases came from BJP with 227 representatives who declared their criminal backgrounds followed by Shiv Sena with 200 such candidates in two decades.
'Candidates using fake news to increase their popularity'
BJP scored over other parties with Rs 14.39 crore as average assets among their elected candidates. Of these, 10 were rupee billionaires.
Ranade said the purpose of this detailed analysis is to keep the voters informed about the backgrounds of the candidates contesting elections and make an informed choice. "Creating voter awareness about candidates, we feel, is of prime importance so that we see the best candidates in the fray," he added.
The ADR team felt that money power and muscle power have a large bearing on the outcome of the election results.
"Lately, along with money and muscle, it is also the media presence of candidates that is contributing largely these days. Fake news, hate speech, and other such tactics are used as gimmicks to increase popularity by candidates," Ranade added.
The analysis shows 227 of the 386 MPs and MLAs elected on BJP tickets since 2004 have declared criminal cases against themselves, whereas, 95 of the 267 representatives elected on Congress tickets since 2004, 200 of 283 Shiv Sena representatives, 107 out of 250 NCP representatives and 41 of 63 independents have declared their criminal cases.
State coordinator of Maharashtra Election Watch Sharad Kumar said voters should be aware that there is also a NOTA option during polls and they should exercise it after carefully studying the background of the candidates.
"The onus is on the voters to choose. If parties do not take the right step, voters definitely have the option," he said.
He added, "If NOTA wins, the election commission will have to conduct the elections again. It means that the parties will have to field able candidates."
The study also found the correlation between criminal cases declared by candidates and their chances of winning through a formula __ there are 19% chances of winning an election for those with criminal cases while those with a clean record had just 6%.