BHOPAL: Almost every eighth member of the state Vidhan Sabha is facing criminal charges, with Congress members forming a majority of them , reveals an analysis of the affidavits filed by the 230 sitting members of the House in 2018. The report of the same was released by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Madhya Pradesh Election Watch.
Out of the 230 sitting MLAs, there are 29 sitting MLAs (13 per cent) against whom charges have been framed by the court for different offences. “The Congress has the highest number of MLAs (16), followed by BJP (12) and one BSP (1), " it said. The report is based on analysis of the affidavits submitted by the candidates prior to the 2018 Assembly elections and the bye-elections that followed.
As per details of criminal cases declared in the self sworn affidavits submitted by the MLAs while contesting Madhya Pradesh assembly elections in 2018, "10 MLAs have a total of 12 criminal cases pending against them for 10 years or more."
The report also said that, however, the status of these cases may have undergone a change over the years for some MLAs. "The exact current status will be known only in respect of MLAs who decide to re-contest in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections 2023, after they file their nomination papers," the report said.
The report focuses on the number of MLAs with criminal cases which fall under Section 8(1) of the Representation of People’s Act who will be disqualified, if convicted, the number of MLAs with criminal cases which fall under Section 8(2) of the RP Act, who will be disqualified, if they are convicted with a punishment of not less than six months, and the number of MLAs with criminal cases which fall under Section 8(3) of the RP Act who will be disqualified, if they are convicted with a punishment of not less than two years.For 17 years the criminal cases against Congress MLA Dilip Gurjar from Nagda-Khacharod assembly have been pending in a court.Criminal cases are pending for 16 years for defamation against Ramkhelawan Patel of BJP from Amarpatan constituency.
