Money, muscle power among unlettered MPs

While it is true that money and muscle power dominate Indian politics, a Bangalore-based NGO has proved it by conducting a comprehensive analysis of the affidavits of all the MPs in the new Lok Sabha.

According to a study by Bangalore-based NGO, Public Affairs Centre, of the 132 MPs who are undergraduates and below, over 30 per cent have criminal cases against them compared to 21 per cent for the rest. Their average value of assets is close to Rs 2 crore each compared to less that Rs 1.4 crore for the more educated MPs.

The study puts forward an all important question of whether less educated among the MPs get elected because they are richer and command criminal links than the rest of the members.

Further, it states, "Those with a low asset base are poorly represented in the Lok Sabha. Women MPs possess higher education levels than men, but they account for only eight per cent of the total."

For states "" Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand "" account for over 50 per cent of all MPs with criminal cases that could attract severe penalties (five years imprisonment or more). MPs from Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Uttaranchal and Jammu and Kashmir have no such criminal cases against them.

According to the study, the average MP is not an "aam aadmi", but a "class aadmi". Over 50 per cent of the MPs have assets of over Rs 50 lakh.

"The Indian National Congress has the largest proportion of crorepati MPs (45 per cent). The Congress Party MPs account for more than 50 percent of the assets of all MPs. Even the runners up (those who polled the next highest votes) are also high asset persons. Money power is truly the entry barrier in this game. As a group, our MPs have total assets valued at Rs 878 crore (excluding cars for which no value is given)," the study said.

Himachal Pradesh lead in the education level of MPs (100 per cent), while Assam (86 per cent), Kerala (84.3 per cent) and Tamil Nadu (84.2 per cent) are next.