Out of the 403 newly elected legislators in Uttar Pradesh, 205 (nearly 51 per cent) have declared criminal cases against themselves. Of these 143 (36 per cent) MLAs have made the declarations in their affidavits.
The Uttar Pradesh Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), in its data, said these MLAs have criminal charges against them. The ADR takes the responsibility and comprises background reports based on Criminal, Financial, Educational and Income Tax details of Candidates and Winners (MPs, MLAs and Ministers) who have contested Elections to State Assemblies, the Parliament and a few local bodies.
It also exposed that 366 MLAs elected in the 2022 assembly election are crorepatis. This is slightly higher than 322 MLAs in 2017.
In the just-concluded assembly election, the ADR found that 51 per cent of the MLAs have declared criminal cases against themselves.
However, 143 MLAs, 36 per cent in total, had declared criminal cases against themselves in the 2017 election.
In the case of a severe criminal offence, it is found that as many as 158 (39%) winning candidates have declared severe criminal cases, including issues related to murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, crimes against women etc. In 2017, 107 (26%) had declared severe criminal cases against themselves.
“Five winning candidates have declared cases related to murder (IPC section-302) while another 29 have declared cases of attempt to murder (section-307) and six others have declared cases related to crimes against women. Among these six, one candidate has declared cases related to rape”.
The coordinator of ADR says that the party-wise analysis revealed 111 (44%) out of 255 winning candidates from BJP, 71 (64%) out of 111 winning candidates from SP, 7 (88%) out of 8 winning candidates from RLD, 4 (67%) out of 6 winning candidates from Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party, 4 (67%) Out of 6 winning candidates from Nirbal Indian Shoshit Hamara Aam Dal, 3 (25%) out of 12 winning candidates from Apna Dal (Sonal), 2 (100%) from Jansatta Dal Loktantrik, 2 (100%) from Congress and 1(100%) BSP winning candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits”.
Refuting the charges, several leaders from these parties said the charges against the candidates were politically motivated to tarnish their strength and image.
Meanwhile, the analysis of two elections, from 2017 to 2022, revealed that there had been an increase in income-wise.
“out of the 403 winning candidates, 366 (91%) are crorepatis. Out of 402 MLAs analysed during the assembly elections in 2017, 322 (80%) MLAs were crorepatis”, said Sanjay Singh, the coordinator of ADR.
“The average assets per winning candidate in the assembly elections 2022 is ₹8.06 crore. In the 2017 assembly elections, it was ₹5.92 crore”.
In party-wise, the average asset per winning candidate for 255 BJP winners is ₹8.14 crore, for 111 SP winning candidates it is ₹7.39 crore, for 12 Apna Dal (Sonelal) winners it is ₹7.13 crorE, for 8 RLD winning candidates, it is ₹7.56 crore; for 6 Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party winners, it is ₹7.94 crores; for 6 Nirbal Indian Shoshit Hamara Aam Dal winners, it is ₹6.64 crores; for 2 Congress winning candidates, it is ₹19.71 crores. For 2 Jansatta Dal Loktantrik winners, it is ₹13.75 crore.
Twenty-two per cent of the winning candidates have declared their educational qualification to be between 8th pass and 12th pass, while 305 (76%) winners have announced being graduates and above.
The data adds that three winners are diploma holders. Seven winning candidates have been declared literate, and one MLA has not given his educational qualification.
Forty-two per cent of the winning candidates are between 25-50 years old, while 58 % of the winning candidates falls between 51 to 80 years. Two candidates who won the seats are above 80 years old.
The number of women winning candidates has increased to 47(12%) compared to 40(10%) in the 2017 election.
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