Source:
daily bhaskar.com
http://daily.bhaskar.com/article/NAT-TOP-shocking-your-new-lok-sabha-will-bring-highest-number-of-mps-with-criminal-charg-4617728-NOR.html
Date:
18.05.2014
City:
New Delhi
New Delhi: It's shocking but true. More than one-third of the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) newly elected MPs have criminal charges against them. Over one-fifth of them face serious criminal charges.
Based on the analysis of the election affidavits filed before the Election Commission (EC), a data released by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) shows the 16th Lok Sabha will have more members with a criminal case pending against them than previous. Around 34% of the new MPs face criminal charges as against 30% in 2009 and 24% in 2004.
Among the major parties, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), with all of its four MPs facing criminal charges, led, followed the Shiv Sena (15 of 18 MPs) and the Nationalist Congress Party (4 of 5 MPs), revealed the data.
For Congress, the proportion is lower at 18% and 7% respectively.
Across parties, candidates facing criminal procedures were more than twice as likely to win as compared to candidates with a clean record, ADR data shows.
Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have the highest proportion of candidates facing criminal procedures.
Highest number of 'crorepati' MPs
This will also be the richest known Lok Sabha. In the 543 member-house, 449 (82%) MPs have assets worthRs. 1 crore or more, up from 315 (58%) in 2009. There were 156 'crorepati' MPs in 2004.
Interestingly, crorepati candidates are 10 times more likely to win than a candidate worth less than Rs. 1 crore, says the data.
The average asset of an MP has more than doubled from about Rs. 6 crore to Rs. 14 core in the new house.
Three major parties from Andhra Pradesh - the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) and Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) - have the richest MPs, with the average assets of over Rs. 50 crore.
Jayadev Galla, TDP MP from Guntur, is India's richest lawmaker. His assets worth Rs. 683 crore. The next three richest MPs are also from Andhra Pradesh.
The average assets of almost all BJP MPs stand at over Rs. 11 crore, while the average Congress MP is worth over Rs. 16 crore, says the ADR data.
With average assets of Rs. 79 lakh, the CPI(M) has the poorest members in the new house. India's poorest MP is Uma Saren of the Trinamool Congress.
Highest representation of women
The new Lok Sabha will have the highest number of women lawmakers. Of the 543 MPs elected, 61 are women. However, this is only marginally up from the 59 women elected to outgoing Lok Sabha.
Age profile of newly elected MPs
The average age of the incoming Lok Sabha would be at 54 years. It is marginally higher than the last one.
BJP Patriarch LK Advani (86) is the oldest member of next house, while the age of the youngest member (TMC's Abhishek Banerjee) is 26 years. A total of 71 (13%) newly elected MPs are under the age of 40.
Educational qualification
The incoming Lok Sabha is set to witness a decline in the educational level of lawmakers. Shockingly, the percentage of MPs who do not have a matriculate degree is significantly higher in the new Lok Sabha (13%) compared to 3% in the outgoing Lok Sabha.
Around 75% of newly elected MPs are graduates, as compared to 79% in 2009.
Muslim representation
The 16th Lok Sabha will have one of the lowest representation for Muslims with just about 22 of them emerged victorious in the wake of the saffron surge in the north and western parts of India. This is a 4% representation for a community that is 14% of the population.
Uttar Pradesh, which has 80 seats, has not returned any Muslim candidate in the just-concluded elections. BJP, the largest party with 282 members, does not have a single representative from the community.
In the new Lok Sabha, the biggest contingent of Muslim MPs would be from West Bengal with seven members followed by Bihar where at least four Muslim candidates have won.
Going by estimates, there were more than 25 Muslim members in the outgoing Lower House.
The number of Muslim MPs in every Lok Sabha has remained between 20 to 30. India's largest minority community could break the barrier of 30 Muslim MPs only in 1980 (51) and 1984 (48).
