76 Lok Sabha MPs facing serious criminal charges: Report

Of the 162 Lok Sabha MPs who have declared criminal cases against them, 76 have been found to be facing serious criminal charges like murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping and robbery, a report has stated.
The report, based on the analysis of affidavits of MPs elected in 2009 by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch (NEW), further states that the average number of years for which criminal cases against parliamentarians have been pending is seven years.
The report says that, "162 MPs have a declared total of 306 serious IPC (cases) against them. MPs of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) have a declared 69 serious IPC counts followed by BJP MPs who have a declared total of 55 serious IPC counts.

"SP MPs with 34 serious IPC counts and Congress MPs with 30 serious IPC counts come after them," the report said.
Kameshwar Baitha, the JMM MP from Palamu in Jharkhand, has declared the maximum 69 counts of serious IPC cases against himself. He has declared 10 cases of murder against himself which have been pending for an average of 12 years, the report added.
According to the report, 24 MPs who were facing criminal cases in 2004 were re-elected in 2009.

"This shows that political parties continue to give tickets to candidates despite (them) having criminal cases pending against them," added the report.

There are as many as 30 MPs who have a total of 58 serious criminal cases pending against them for 10 years or more.
Of them, there are five who have declared a total of 14 cases of murder which have been pending for 10 years or more.
"Guddu Premchand of Congress from Ujjain constituency in Madhya Pradesh has declared a case of murder which has been pending for the longest period of 29 years," said the report.