The Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch have put together an analysis of the criminal backgrounds and assets of 229 Rajya Sabha MPs. The report titled, ‘Analysis of Criminal Background, Financial, Education, Gender and other details of Sitting Rajya Sabha MPs 2020’ states that 54 (24%) of the Rajya Sabha MPs have declared criminal cases against themselves and 203 (89%) are crorepatis.
Criminal Background
Out of the 54 (24%) who have declared criminal cases against themselves, 28 (12%) have declared that they have been booked in serious criminal cases like murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping and rape. The MPs have also been booked under charges of criminal conspiracy, punishment for rioting, armed with deadly weapons, fabricating false evidence, criminal intimidation, mischief by fire or explosive substance, attempt to commit culpable homicide and charges related to intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace among others.
One Rajya Sabha MP namely Bhonsle Shrimant Chh. Udayanraje Pratapsingh maharaj (BJP) from Maharashtra has declared cases related to murder (IPC section 302). Also, as many as four Rajya Sabha MPs have declared cases to attempt to murder (IPC Section 307).
Out of the four Rajya Sabha MPs who have declared cases related to crimes against women, KC Venugopal from the Indian National Congress (INC) from Rajasthan has declared a case related to rape (IPC Section 376).
A party –wise analysis of Rajya Sabha MPs with criminal cases – 14(18%) out of 77 Rajya Sabha MPs from BJP, 8 (20%) out of 40 Rajya Sabha MPs from INC, 2 (15%) out of 13 Rajya Sabha MPs from AITC, 3(33%) out of 9 Rajya Sabha MPs from BJD, 3(50%) out of 6 Rajya Sabha MPs from YSRCP and 2(25%) out of 8 Rajya Sabha MPs from SP have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.
A party –wise analysis of Rajya Sabha MPs with serious criminal cases – 5(6%) out of 77 Rajya Sabha MPs from BJP, 6 (15%) out of 40 Rajya Sabha MPs from INC, 1 (8%) out of 13 Rajya Sabha MPs from AITC, 1(11%) out of 9 Rajya Sabha MPs from BJD, 3(50%) out of 6 Rajya Sabha MPs from YSRCP and 3(60%) out of 5 Rajya Sabha MPs from RJD have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.
A state-wise analysis shows that Delhi has the highest percentage of Rajya Sabha MPs with declared criminal cases at 67%. Bihar comes next at 53%, followed by Kerala and Maharashtra. West Bengal has the lowest percentage (13%) of Rajya Sabha MPs with declared criminal cases.
However, the highest number of MPs with declared criminal cases are from Uttar Pradesh (30), followed by Maharashtra (19), Tamil Nadu (18), West Bengal (16) and Bihar (15).
Details of current Rajya Sabha MPs who lost earlier elections to Lok Sabha and state assemblies but later elected to Rajya Sabha
Out of the 50 Rajya Sabha MPs who had lost earlier elections, 12 (24%) have declared criminal cases and 10 (20%) have declared serious criminal cases against themselves.
Financial Background
Out of the 229 sitting Rajya Sabha MPs, 203 (89%) are crorepatis. Out of the 203, 86 (37%) have assets of Rs. 10 crores and above, 36 (16%) have assets worth Rs. 5 crores and above and 81 (35%) have assets worth Rs. 1 crore and above. Only 10% (22) MPs have assets ranging between Rs. 20 lakhs to 1 crore and only 2% (4) MPs have assets of less than Rs. 20 lakh. As many as 69 (90%) of 77 MPs, followed by the INC which has 37 (93%) of 40 MPs have declared assets valued more than Rs. 1 crore.
The average of assets per Rajya Sabha MP is Rs. 62.67 crores. The average assets owned by BJP MPs stand at Rs. 27.74 crores and INC MPs stand at Rs. 38.96 crores.
The top three Rajya Sabha MPs with high assets are Mahendra Prasad from JD (U) Bihar, Alla Ayodhya Rami Reddy from YSRCP Andhra Pradesh and Bachchan Jaya Amitabh from SP Uttar Pradesh with assets worth Rs. 4078 crore, Rs. 2577 crore and Rs. 1001 crore respectively.
The three MPs with the lowest assets – valued at less than Rs. 20 lakhs are Maharaja Sanajaoba Leishemba from BJP Manipur, Sanjay Singh AAP Delhi and Samir Oraon BJP Jharkhand with assets worth Rs. 5 lakhs, 6 lakhs and 18 lakhs respectively.
Uttar Pradesh (28) has the highest number of crorepati MPs, followed by Maharashtra (18) and Tamil Nadu (17).
Out of the 50 Rajya Sabha MPs who had lost earlier LS Elections but were elected to Rajya Sabha, 42 (84%) are crorepatis. Among major parties, 13 (100%) out of 13 Rajya Sabha MPs from INC, 9 (75%) out of 12 Rajya Sabha MPs from BJP, 3(100%) out of 3 Rajya Sabha MPs from SP and 4(67%) out of 6 Rajya Sabha MPs from AITC have declared assets valued more than Rs 1 crore. The average assets of these Rajya Sabha MPs is Rs. 77.40 crores.
The entire report by ADR may be read below.
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