New Delhi: Data compiled by think tanks reveals that 21 percent of legislators in the five states heading for assembly polls in November-December have criminal backgrounds.
Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram will hold elections in November and December. The results will be out on December 8.
Figures compiled by Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch (NEW) show that 128 of the 607 legislators in these five states have self-declared pending criminal cases. A total of 47 legislators had declared serious criminal cases against themselves.
In Delhi, 43 percent of the legislators have declared criminal cases against themselves, and in Madhya Pradesh, 25 percent of the assembly members have done so.
In Madhya Pradesh, 11 percent of the MLAs are involved in serious criminal cases — the highest percentage among the five states. In Delhi and Chhattisgarh, nine percent of the MLAs have serious criminal cases against them.
At seven percent, Mizoram has the lowest percentage of legislators with criminal cases among the five states.
Among the major parties, 30 percent of the Congress candidates in Delhi and 31 percent in Madhya Pradesh, in the 2008 assembly polls, had a criminal background.
Thirty-five percent of the Bharatiya Janata Party candidates faced criminal cases in Delhi and 22 percent of the party’s candidates in Madhya Pradesh were tainted in the 2008 assembly elections.
In the current Delhi assembly, 38 percent of the Congress legislators and 46 percent of the BJP lawmakers have criminal cases pending against them.
“NEW and ADR demand that all political parties should give tickets to taint-free candidates during the upcoming elections,” a statement said.