Charges of murder against 10 MPs: ADR report

New Delhi, March 28 (IANS) As many as 10 members of the outgoing Lok Sabha have declared charges of murder against them while 14 have criminal cases related to attempt to murder, reveals a report by the election watchdog, Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

The ADR on Thursday released the report which said that as many as 174 (33 per cent) of total sitting 521 members of the current Lok Sabha declared criminal cases against themselves before 2014 Lok Sabha elections while 106 (20 per cent) declared serious criminal cases such as murder, attempt to murder, communal disharmony, kidnapping, crimes against women.

It said the report was prepared after analysing affidavits filed by 521 of total 543 members before 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

Out of 10 members who have declared cases related to murder, four are from the ruling BJP, one each from Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Swabhimani Paksha, and one Independent.

Among the 14 members of Parliament who have cases related to attempt to murder, eight are from the BJP, one each from Congress, Trinamool Congress, NCP, RJD, Shiv Sena and Swabhimani Paksha.

There are 14 members, who have declared cases related to causing communal harmony - 10 from the BJP, one each from Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) and All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF).

Party-wise, 35 per cent (92 out of 267) BJP members have declared criminal cases, while the number is 16 per cent (seven of total 45 members) of the Congress, 16 per cent (six of total 37 members) of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), 83 per cent (15 of total 18 members) of Shiv Sena, 21 per cent (seven of total 34 members) of Trinamool Congress have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

Similarly, 22 per cent (58 out of 267) BJP members have declared serious criminal cases like murder while the number is 4 per cent (two of total 45 members) of the Congress, 8 per cent (three of total 37 members) of AIADMK, 44 per cent (eight of total 18 members) of Shiv Sena, 12 per cent (four of total 34 members) of Trinamool Congress have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

As many as 430 or 83 per cent of the total 521 members are crorepaties and the average assets per sitting MP for Lok Sabha 2014 elections are Rs 14.72 crore, finds the report.

Two among them have not declared their PAN details and 24 have not declared income tax details.

Party-wise, 85 per cent of BJP MPs, 82 per cent of Congress MPs, 78 per cent of AIADMK MPs and 65 per cent of Trinamool Congress MPs have declared assets worth more than Rs 1 crore.

Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MP Jayadev Galla is the richest MP with the declaration of assets worth Rs 683 crore while BJP MP from Rajasthan Sumedha Nand Saraswati has declared lowest assets of Rs 34,000.

A total of 96 Sitting MPs have declared liabilities of Rs 1 crore and above and 14 of them declared liabilities of Rs 10 crore and above.

TDP MP Srinivas Kesineni has declared liabilities of Rs 71 crore against the assets worth Rs 128 crore.

When it comes to education background, one has declared that he is illiterate.

As many as 126 (24 per cent) have declared that have an education qualification of 12th pass or below while 384 (74 per cent) have declared having educational qualification of graduate or above.

As many as 206 (40 per cent) members are 25 to 50 years while 281 (54 per cent) have declared their age to be between 51 to 70 years and 34 (6 per cent) to be above 71 years.

Out of 521 sitting MPs analysed, 66 (13 per cent) sitting MPs are women while 455 (87 per cent) are men.