n Bhubaneswar: In Odisha as many as 52 MLAs, and 3 MPs from Lok Sabha and 2 from Rajya Sabha had declared pending criminal cases against themselves at the time of contesting the elections held in 2014. Among the political parties, BJD has the maximum 32 MLAs, followed by Congress with 9 and BJP with 8 MLAs. It is to be noted here that almost all the major political parties have winners with declared criminal cases.
The Odisha Election Watch, an NGO which analyses the affidavits filed by candidates while contesting elections, has found 35% of the MLAs and 14 of MPs are having criminal cases pending against them while contesting the 2014 general elections.
Out of the 52 MLAs, 41 had declared serious criminal cases and form 28% of the total number of sitting MLAs.
| Party Name | Total number of MLAs analyzed | MLAs with declared Criminal Cases | % of MLAs with declared criminal cases | MLAs with serious declared criminal cases | % of MLAs with serious declared criminal cases |
| BJD | 117 | 32 | 27 % | 23 | 20 % |
| INC | 16 | 9 | 56 % | 8 | 50 % |
| BJP | 10 | 8 | 80 % | 7 | 70 % |
| IND | 2 | 2 | 100 % | 2 | 100 % |
| SAMATA KRANTI DAL | 1 | 1 | 100 % | 1 | 100 % |
| Others | 1 | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| Total | 147 | 52 | 35% | 41 | 28% |
Out of 21 MPs from Odisha whose affidavits were analysed by ADR, 3(14% of total MPs from Odisha) have declared cases against themselves. Two MPs from BJD and one from BJP have declared criminal cases pending against them.
| Party Name | Total number of winners analyzed | winners with declared Criminal Cases | % of winners with declared criminal cases | winners with serious declared criminal cases | % of winners with serious declared criminal cases |
| BJD | 20 | 2 | 10.0 % | 1 | 5.0 % |
| BJP | 1 | 1 | 100.0 % | 0.0 % | |
| Others | 0 | – | – | – | – |
| Total | 21 | 3 | 14.3% | 1 | 4.8% |
The Upper House of the Parliament or the Rajya Sabha too is not immune from MPs from Odisha with declared criminal cases. Out of 10Rajya Sabha MPs from Odisha whose affidavits were analysed by ADR, 2 have declared criminal cases. Thus, 20% of the total Rajya Sabha MPs from Odisha have declared criminal cases against themselves.It is to be noted that none has declared any serious criminal cases pending against themselves.
| Party Name | Total number of MPs analyzed | MPs with declared Criminal Cases | % of MPs with declared criminal cases | MPs with serious declared criminal cases | % of MPs with serious declared criminal cases |
| BJD | 8 | 1 | 13% | 0 | 0% |
| INC | 1 | 1 | 100% | 0 | 0% |
| IND | 1 | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| Total | 10 | 2 | 20% | 0 | 0% |
Criminalization of politics continues to remain a major concern in India as several sitting MPs and MLAs facing charges of corruption and serious offences such as murder, rape and kidnapping continue to be lawmakers. It is thus hoped that the Centre follows through with the proposed scheme of setting up 12 special courts for a year to fast-track criminal cases against sitting Legislators and Parliamentarians.
The supreme court on Wednesday has pointed out the increasing criminalization in politics while directing the Centre to come up with a scheme to set-up special fast-track courts that would deal exclusively with the criminal cases pending against Legislators and Parliamentarians.
