M A I N   N E W S

19% Punjab MLAs facing criminal cases
Kanchan Vasdev/TNS

Chandigarh, March 11
The hue and cry against criminalisation of politics notwithstanding, the voters of Punjab this time have elected 19 per cent MLAs, who have criminal cases pending against them. The situation is more alarming in Uttar Pradesh with almost half of the 224 newly elected Samajwadi Party MLAs facing criminal cases. Almost 25 per cent of these are facing cases with serious criminal charges like murder, attempt to murder, theft, robbery etc.

In Uttarakhand, 19 of the 70 newly elected MLAs have criminal background, according to Uttarakhand Election Watch.

Of the 117 legislatures in Punjab analysed by Punjab Election Watch, 22 (19%) have criminal cases pending against them. As many as eight MLAs (7 per cent) are facing serious criminal cases. In the Punjab 2007 Assembly elections, 21 (18%) were facing criminal cases.

In Punjab, the Congress has the maximum number of MLAs with criminal cases. As many as 11 such MLAs are from the INC, nine from SAD, while two are independent. The SAD has 56 MLAs and Congress has 46 in the Assembly.

The Punjab Election Watch report states Simarjit Singh Bains, a SAD rebel who was elected as an Independent from Ludhiana, has six cases pending against him. The charges he faces include, attempt to murder, deliberate and malicious acts intending to outrage religious feelings, theft, obstructing a public servant in discharge of his public functions, rioting, criminal intimidation and assault to deter a public servant from discharge of his duty. Simarjit has been elected with a huge margin of over 28,000 votes.

Following Bains is Bibi Jagir Kaur, an MLA from Bholath in Kapurthala with a case of murder, wrongful confinement and kidnapping pending against her.

Balbir Singh Sidhu, Congress MLA from SAS Nagar, has a case with charges of murder, attempt to murder, rioting, and criminal conspiracy pending against him.

Sukhbir Singh Badal, MLA from Jalalabad, has been named an accused in an attempt to murder case, robbery and voluntarily causing hurt to extort property.

Amarinder Singh, former chief minister and Congress MLA from Patiala, has six cases registered against him. Charges relate to criminal conspiracy, cheating and dishonesty and forgery for the purpose of cheating under Sections 120-B/ 420/467/468 IPC. He also faces charges related to using as genuine a forged document, defamation, forgery and criminal breach of trust. Besides, he has three cases filed against him by Vigilance in Patiala, Ludhiana and Mohali.

Of the 403 MLAs analysed for Uttar Pradesh 2012 Assembly elections, 189 (47%) have criminal cases pending against them. Of these, 189 MLAs, 98 MLAs (24%) are facing serious criminal cases.

From the winning Samajwadi Party, 111 (49.6 per cent) of the 224 MLAs have criminal cases against them. Of these 56 (25 per cent) are facing serious offences like murder, attempt to murder, theft, extortion, robbery etc.

As per the Election Watch, three MLAs are facing a host of cases. They are Mitra Sen of SP (Bikapur constituency). He faces 36 criminal cases, including 14 related to murder. Sushil Singh (Independent, Sakaldiha) has 20 criminal cases, including 12 charges related to murder. Ram Veer Singh (SP, Jasrana) has 18 criminal cases, including 8 relating to murder.

(With inputs from Shahira Naim in Lucknow)

election watch findings

Punjab

• 22 MLAs with criminal cases pending in Punjab Assembly
• Congress has 11 such MLAs, SAD has nine, while two are Independents

Uttar Pradesh

• 189 out of 403 MLAs in UP have criminal cases pending
• Samajwadi Party has 111 MLAs (total 224) with criminal cases; of these, 56 are facing serious offences

Uttarakhand

• 19 of 70 legislators in Uttarakhand have criminal background