More than 40pc MPs face criminal charges
More than 40 percent of lawmakers in India's new parliament face criminal charges -- some as serious as murder and rape -- and the list is growing, an electoral reform group said yesterday.
One member of parliament for the opposition Congress party is battling 204 cases including manslaughter and robbery, the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) said.
At least 233 of the 543 members named as winning seats on Thursday face criminal proceedings, according to the ADR, whose election chief Anil Verma said there is a "disturbing trend" in parliament that "is bad for the democracy".
The ADR said it studied the records of 539 of the winners and found that the number facing criminal cases was the highest since it started studies in 2004.
The report said 116 of the 303 lawmakers from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) landslide win face charges, including one for terrorism.
Twenty-nine of the 52 Congress MPs face cases. Dean Kuriakose from Idukki, in Kerala state, faces 204 criminal cases.
The ADR said the number of lawmakers facing grave criminal cases had more than doubled in a decade -- including 11 murder cases, 30 manslaughter charges and three accused of rape.
Indian laws bar people from contesting an election if they have been convicted while in office for crimes that carry jail terms of two or more years, with some exceptions depending on the crime.
Candidates standing for office for the first time are allowed to have a conviction.
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