Out of the 230 sitting MLAs in Madhya Pradesh, charges have been framed by the court against 29 legislators, of which 16 are from the Congress, a report said on Wednesday.

The report was published by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Madhya Pradesh Election Watch which analysed the affidavits of 230 sitting MLAs from Madhya Pradesh Assembly in 2018.

Out of these 230 sitting MLAs, there are 29 sitting MLAs (13 per cent) against whom charges have been framed by the court for offences falling under Section 8(1) (2) and (3) of the Representation of People Act, 1951, the report said.

"Congress has the highest number of MLAs 16, followed by BJP with 12 and one BSP MLA, who have declared criminal cases where the charges have been framed under the RP Act," it said. The report is based on analysis of the affidavits submitted by the candidates prior to the 2018 Assembly elections and bye-elections conducted thereafter.

The report focuses on the number of MLAs with criminal cases which fall under Section 8(1) of the RP Act who will be disqualified, if convicted, the number of MLAs with criminal cases which fall under Section 8(2) of the RP Act and who will be disqualified, if they are convicted with a punishment of not less than six months, and the number of MLAs with criminal cases which fall under Section 8(3) of the RP Act who will be disqualified, if they are convicted with a punishment of not less than two years.

As per details of criminal cases declared in the self sworn affidavits submitted by the MLAs while contesting Madhya Pradesh assembly elections in 2018 and bye-elections held thereafter, pendency in respect of criminal cases where charges have been framed under Sec 8 (1), (2), (3), and the average number of years that criminal cases against 29 MLAs have been pending is six years, were also analysed. It said, "10 MLAs have a total of 12 criminal cases pending against them for 10 years or more."