LS result: 150 tainted MPs, 300 Crorepatis
Though India has the richest democratic tradition, where even a person with no assets can get elected to the highest office of the country, the trend of the current General Elections shows that politics is the privilege of the rich and the tainted
THE RESULTS of the 15th Lok Sabha Elections of India, rightly termed as the biggest elections on the earth, are finally out. The Indian National Congress (INC) has risen like a Phoenix to secure 206 seats (a gain of 61 seats as compared to the general elections of 2004) and together with its alliance partners, who collectively form the United Progress Alliance (UPA), has secured 262 seats in all, just ten short of the magic number of 272.
The UPA is now all set to form the government at the Centre putting to rest all speculations of horse-trading that would have been the order of the day had neither of the major alliances the UPA and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) been able to garner the necessary numbers.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the other major national party, has performed worse than expected: it has bagged 116 seats in all (a loss of 22 seats as compared to the general elections of 2004) and together with its alliance partners has secured 157 seats in all.
The final mandate has been termed as the victory of democracy: the people wanted a stable government at the Centre and put their faith in the UPA, and the clean and honest image of UPA’s Prime Ministerial candidate Dr Manmohan Singh is what propelled the electorate to give a massive mandate to it. True. But this is only the tip of the iceberg. The part of the iceberg that is visible is fair and clean; the bottom invisible part is dark and dank.
India has actually elected more MPs with criminal records to the 15th Lok Sabha than it had done in the 14th Lok Sabha. The Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), a non-governmental organisation, has studied the affidavits of 533 declared winners of the 543-member Lok Sabha and found that 150 of the elected members of Parliament (MPs) have criminal charges against them (ie, 28.14 per cent of the elected members have criminal records).
Of these, 73 members have serious criminal charges against them. In comparison, the 14th Lok Sabha had 128 MPs with criminal charges, out of which 55 MPs had charges of a serious nature. The electorate of the country has managed to increase the percentage of MPs with criminal charges by 17.2 percent and the percentage of MPs with serious charges by 30.9 percent in the new Lok Sabha.
Party wise, the BJP has 116 MPs in the Lok Sabha out of which 42 have criminal charges against them while the INC, which has 202 MPs, has 41 with criminal charges against them. Out of the 11 MPs of the Shivsena (SHS), eight have criminal charges against them; a whopping 72.73 per cent!
Going by individual members, the maximum criminal charges are against INC member of Parliament from Gujarat Vitthalbhai Hansrajbhai Radadiya. He has a total of 16 cases out of which five cases are of serious nature. The maximum number of serious IPC (Indian Penal Code) charges are against Jagdis Sharma of Janata Dal (United) (JD(U)) from Jehanabad, Bihar. Statewise, Uttar Pradesh tops the list for having elected 30 candidates with criminal charges to the Parliament. It is followed by Maharashtra, which has elected 23 candidates with criminal charges. Bihar has elected 17 candidates with criminal charges, while Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat have elected 11 each.
Though the country has one of the richest democratic traditions in the world, where even a person with no assets at all can get elected to the highest office of the country, the trend of the just concluded Lok Sabha elections presents a different picture: politics is the privilege of the rich.
A total of 300 crorepatis have been elected to the new Lok Sabha, a mammoth increase of 94.8 per cent over the 128 crorepatis, who had been elected to the 14th Lok Sabha. The MP with highest assets is Namma Nageswara Rao (Telugu Desam Party), who got elected from Khammam, Andhra Pradesh. He has declared assets of 173 crores (INR).
He is followed by Naveen Jindal (INC) of Kurukshetra, Haryana, who has declared assets of 131 crores (INR). The INC tops the list here with 138 crorepatis, while the BJP is far behind with 58 crorepatis. The Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party have 14 and 13 crorepatis, respectively. Among states, the maximum crorepatis are from Uttar Pradesh (52 crorepatis), followed by Maharashtra (37), Andhra Pradesh (31) and Karnataka (25). All seven MPs from the National Capital Territory of Delhi are crorepatis.
Wealth, after all, can be accumulated by hard work and enterprise. So a high level of personal assets should not be a negative factor to be looked out for while deciding to vote for any particular candidate. But criminal charges should definitely be checked out before casting one’s vote for any particular candidate. So what if Dr Manmohan Singh, the clean, simple and honest politician belonging to the middle class is re-elected as the Prime Minister of the country. His colleagues, on whose collective decisions he has to work, are tainted. The nation has elected a good Prime Minister but not as good a Lok Sabha.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the other major national party, has performed worse than expected: it has bagged 116 seats in all (a loss of 22 seats as compared to the general elections of 2004) and together with its alliance partners has secured 157 seats in all.
The final mandate has been termed as the victory of democracy: the people wanted a stable government at the Centre and put their faith in the UPA, and the clean and honest image of UPA’s Prime Ministerial candidate Dr Manmohan Singh is what propelled the electorate to give a massive mandate to it. True. But this is only the tip of the iceberg. The part of the iceberg that is visible is fair and clean; the bottom invisible part is dark and dank.
India has actually elected more MPs with criminal records to the 15th Lok Sabha than it had done in the 14th Lok Sabha. The Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), a non-governmental organisation, has studied the affidavits of 533 declared winners of the 543-member Lok Sabha and found that 150 of the elected members of Parliament (MPs) have criminal charges against them (ie, 28.14 per cent of the elected members have criminal records).
Of these, 73 members have serious criminal charges against them. In comparison, the 14th Lok Sabha had 128 MPs with criminal charges, out of which 55 MPs had charges of a serious nature. The electorate of the country has managed to increase the percentage of MPs with criminal charges by 17.2 percent and the percentage of MPs with serious charges by 30.9 percent in the new Lok Sabha.
Party wise, the BJP has 116 MPs in the Lok Sabha out of which 42 have criminal charges against them while the INC, which has 202 MPs, has 41 with criminal charges against them. Out of the 11 MPs of the Shivsena (SHS), eight have criminal charges against them; a whopping 72.73 per cent!
Going by individual members, the maximum criminal charges are against INC member of Parliament from Gujarat Vitthalbhai Hansrajbhai Radadiya. He has a total of 16 cases out of which five cases are of serious nature. The maximum number of serious IPC (Indian Penal Code) charges are against Jagdis Sharma of Janata Dal (United) (JD(U)) from Jehanabad, Bihar. Statewise, Uttar Pradesh tops the list for having elected 30 candidates with criminal charges to the Parliament. It is followed by Maharashtra, which has elected 23 candidates with criminal charges. Bihar has elected 17 candidates with criminal charges, while Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat have elected 11 each.
Though the country has one of the richest democratic traditions in the world, where even a person with no assets at all can get elected to the highest office of the country, the trend of the just concluded Lok Sabha elections presents a different picture: politics is the privilege of the rich.
A total of 300 crorepatis have been elected to the new Lok Sabha, a mammoth increase of 94.8 per cent over the 128 crorepatis, who had been elected to the 14th Lok Sabha. The MP with highest assets is Namma Nageswara Rao (Telugu Desam Party), who got elected from Khammam, Andhra Pradesh. He has declared assets of 173 crores (INR).
He is followed by Naveen Jindal (INC) of Kurukshetra, Haryana, who has declared assets of 131 crores (INR). The INC tops the list here with 138 crorepatis, while the BJP is far behind with 58 crorepatis. The Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party have 14 and 13 crorepatis, respectively. Among states, the maximum crorepatis are from Uttar Pradesh (52 crorepatis), followed by Maharashtra (37), Andhra Pradesh (31) and Karnataka (25). All seven MPs from the National Capital Territory of Delhi are crorepatis.
Wealth, after all, can be accumulated by hard work and enterprise. So a high level of personal assets should not be a negative factor to be looked out for while deciding to vote for any particular candidate. But criminal charges should definitely be checked out before casting one’s vote for any particular candidate. So what if Dr Manmohan Singh, the clean, simple and honest politician belonging to the middle class is re-elected as the Prime Minister of the country. His colleagues, on whose collective decisions he has to work, are tainted. The nation has elected a good Prime Minister but not as good a Lok Sabha.
Login
 Login through Social ID
|
