New Indian politicians rack up criminal charges

More than a quarter of the MPs elected to form India’s new government have criminal cases pending against them.

The number of politicians with criminal records has jumped to 150 out of 543 – a 17.5% increase from the last general elections in 2004, election watchdog Association for Democratic Reforms has revealed.

Of these, at least 73 MPs have serious charges against their names, which shows a 30.9% increase from last time when 55 had serious criminal records.

A coalition of over a thousand non-government organisations fielded film stars and media campaigns for electoral reforms against criminalisation of politics, but seem to have failed.

The most number of criminal charges are against Gujarat’s Congress Party MP Vitthalbhai Hansrajbhai Radadiya. At least five out of the 16 cases filed against him are of a serious nature.

Mr Radadiya contested and won Porbandar, the birthplace of non-violent activist Mahatma Gandhi, and the charges against him include attempt to murder, robbery and voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons.

The state fielded 69 candidates with criminal records out of a total of 359, which is more than 2% higher than the national average of 17%.

None of the top 10 MPs in the list, which include “hate speech” politician Varun Gandhi in the fourth spot, have been convicted of any of the charges made against them.

One politician from Bihar had over 50 criminal cases against his name and was convicted in none , but he lost the election. He was followed by another candidate from the state of Uttar Pradesh with 41 criminal cases, who also lost in the polls.

Uttar Pradesh ranks at the top of the states table with 30 of 79 elected MPs with criminal charges against them.