150 newly elected MPs have criminal records

As many as 150 newly elected MPs of the 15th Lok Sabha have criminal cases pending against them while nearly 300 have declared assets worth more than Rs 10 million, a study by an NGO reveals.

As many as 150 newly elected MPs of the 15th Lok Sabha have criminal cases pending against them while nearly 300 have declared assets worth more than Rs 10 million, a study by an NGO reveals.

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"In the 15th Lok Sabha there are 150 newly elected MPs who have criminal cases pending against them as compared to 128 MPs in 2004," said the study released by National Election Watch (NEW) on Sunday.

NEW studied affidavits of 533 winners of the Lok Sabha out of 541 results declared on Saturday.

"Of these 150 MPs, 72 have serious charges against them. The maximum criminal charges are against Congress MP from Porbandar in Gujarat Vitthalbhai Hansrajbhai Radadiya. He has a total of 16 cases out of which five cases are of serious nature," the analysis revealed.

"Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has maximum number of MPs having criminal cases with 42 MPs, of which 17 have serious criminal cases against them. It is closely followed by Congress with 41 MPs having criminal cases against them. Twelve Congress MPs have serious charges against them," the study said.

The number of 'crorepatis' (one crore is 10 million) in the 15th Lok Sabha has also nearly doubled as compared to 2004.

"There are 300 'crorepati' MPs in the new Lok Sabha. This is a huge increase from what the number was in 2004 when the number of 'crorepati' MPs stood at 154. The MP with highest asset is Namma Nageswara Rao of the Telugu Desam Party from Khammam in Andhra Pradesh with declared assets of Rs 173 crore (Rs 1.73 billion)," the research revealed.

"He is followed by Naveen Jindal from Kurukshetra, Haryana, of the Congress with declared assets of Rs 131 crore (Rs 1.31 billion)," it added.