New Delhi, May 18
Every third of the newly elected member of the Lok Sabha has a criminal background, an analysis of the disclosures they have made in their affidavits has shown.

An analysis of 541 of the 543 winning candidates by National Election Watch (NEW) and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) shows that 186 or 34 per cent newly elected MPs have in their election affidavits disclosed criminal cases against themselves.

In 2009, 30 per cent of the Lok Sabha members had criminal cases. This has now gone up by four per cent.

According to the analysis, a candidate with criminal cases had a 13 per cent chance of winning in the 2014 whereas it was five per cent for an aspirant with a clean record.

Of the 186 new members, 112 (21 per cent) have declared serious criminal cases, including those related to murder, attempt to murder, causing communal disharmony, kidnapping and crimes against women.

Party-wise, the largest numbers 98 or 35 per cent of the 281 winners from the BJP have in their affidavits declared criminal cases against themselves.

Eight (18 per cent) of the 44 winners from the Congress, six (16 per cent) of the 37 winners from the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), 15 (83 per cent) of the 18 winners from the Shiv Sena, and seven (21 per cent) of the 34 winners fielded by Trinamool Congress also have disclosed criminal cases against themselves. — IANS