44% criminal law makers will vote in Presidential polls: ADR

In a shocking revelation, it has been found that nearly 44 per cent of MPs/MLAs who will be voting for the upcoming Presidential election have declared criminal cases against them.

In an analysis report released on Tuesday by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), a total of 4,72,477 votes (44 per cent) out of 10,74,364 votes analysed are of MPs/MLAs who have declared criminal cases against themselves.

The ADR and National Election Watch have analysed 4,759 out 4,809 affidavits of all sitting MPs and MLAs.

It includes 768 out of 776 affidavits of MPs and 3,991 out of 4,033 MLAs from all the states of India.

They collectively form the Electoral College, who will be voting for the Presidential Election on July 18 to elect the new President of India.

Nearly 236 (44 per cent) out of 542 Lok Sabha MPs, 71(31 per cent) out of 226 Rajya Sabha MPs and 1,723(43 per cent) out of 3,991 MLAs (all state assemblies/UTs) analysed, have declared criminal cases against themselves.

Of the 4,759 MPs/MLAs analysed, 1,316 (28 per cent) members have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in a self-sworn affidavit filed with the ECI before their most recent elections.

About 157 (29 per cent) out of 542 Lok Sabha MPs, 37 (16 per cent) out of 226 Rajya Sabha MPs and 1122 (28 per cent out of 3991 MLAs (all state assemblies/UTs) analysed have declared serious criminal cases against themselves.

The report further says that 3843 (81 per cent) out of 4759 MPs/ MLAs analysed are crorepatis as per their self-sworn affidavits submitted to the ECI at the time of nomination for contesting elections.

About 477 (88 per cent) out of 542 Lok Sabha MPs, 197 (87 per cent) out of 226 Rajya Sabha MPs and 3161 (79 per cent) out of 3991 MLAs (all state assemblies/UTs) analysed are crorepatis.

Meanwhile, of the total 4,759 MPs/MLAs who are entitled to vote in the upcoming Presidential Election, only 477 (10 per cent) are women.

Based on the number of votes the MPs/MLAs are entitled to vote, 1,30,304 (13 per cent) out of 10,74,364 are women votes.

Among MPs, Lok Sabha has 56,700 (15 per cent ) votes out of 3,79,400 from 81 women MPs and Rajya Sabha has 21,700 (14 per cent) out of 1,58,200 votes analysed from 31 women MPs.

Among State assemblies, Uttar Pradesh has the maximum number of women votes with 9,776 votes out of 83,824 (47 out of 403 MLAs) followed by West Bengal with 6,191 votes out of 44,394 (41 out of 294 MLAs) and Bihar with 4,498 votes out of 41,693 (26 out of 241 MLAs).