I have shifted to http://arunnm.wordpress.com/

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Crorepathies and Criminals in Parliament

300 'crorepatis' in new Lok Sabha
Here is an excerpt from an Indian Express report on Crorepathies in India's newly elected Parliament.
The 543 MPs elected to the new Lok Sabha together have assets worth more than Rs 3,000 crore, while 300 of them can be called 'crorepatis' as they own assets worth at least Rs one crore. The average asset size of an MP in the entire Lok Sabha works out to be more than Rs five crore.
In terms of combined assets of Lok Sabha representatives, AP is on the top with assets worth Rs 606 crore, followed by Maharashtra (close to Rs 500 crore), Tamil Nadu (about Rs 450 crore), Uttar Pradesh (about Rs 400 crore) and Haryana (Rs 181 crore) in the top five.
In a country with estimated 200 million earning less than 12 Rupees a day this is amazing statistic. Truly "representative" Parliament!!!!.....
The number of MPs with criminal records have gone up too.
Here are some excerpts from National Election Watch report on criminal records of MPs.
1. There are 150 newly elected MPs with criminal cases pending against them. Out of these, there are 73 MPs having serious charges against them.
2. As compared to 2004, the no of MPs with criminal records has gone up. There were 128 MPs with criminal cases in 2004 Lok Sabha out of which 55 had serious criminal records. There is an increase of about 17.2% in MPs with criminal records and 30.9% increase in the number of MPs with serious criminal records.
3. BJP has maximum MPs having criminal cases - 42 MPs have criminal cases against them, out of which 17 MPs have serious criminal cases against them. It is followed by Congress - 41 MPs with criminal cases out of which 12 MPs have serious charges against them.
4. Amongst the states, UP has maximum MPs with criminal cases (total of 31 out of which 22 have serious charges against them). Maharashtra is second with 23 MPs having criminal cases out of which 9 have serious cases against them.

Sorry State of Indian politics continues.

14 comments:

  1. very relevant post, since we are celebrating we mustn't forget this! I wish there was some legal way to prevent them from fighting elections...because once they are allowed we only have to chose from between two candidates, both with cases against them.

    ReplyDelete
  2. When was following the coverage of the election I heard about the defeat of the D.P Yadav, Mohammed Taslimuddin, Mukhtar Ansari, Atiq Ahmed, Surendra Yadav, Prabhu-nath Singh and Munna Shukla. I was overjoyed. I felt like finally Indian Politics has come of age but when I read this report I was in for a shock.

    This is a dichotomy. Then I concluded that criminals who have lost are the one who Media had created the most ruckus about. Is it possible that media created awareness which prompted voters to vote them out.

    One thing that strengthens my case is the loss of Prabhu-nath Singh and Munna Shukla who fought on JD-U ticket which otherwise swept Bihar.

    My Theory might be wrong but if there is indeed some truth in it then that is reason enough for the news channels to report about criminals in parliament even more.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Indians join politics only to make money and for power...Most of the 300 crorepatis were not even lakhpatis before joining politics...And criminals being elected, well they have the muscle power required to win an election in this country...Like the US, felons should be banned from voting and contesting elections...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yes criminalisation of politics is a big problem. Vigilant media ,strict election commission and fast acting judiciary may be the solution,. How do you feel about so many crorepathies in Parliament?

    ReplyDelete
  5. with money comes politics -- world all over.
    first make 'black money'. then convert into 'white'.meanwhile do some ngo work ----do PR, PR, PR. pay to be seen and heard on every kind of media. then go back to being non-profit entrepreneurship run for the elections --stay there as long as possible ..

    ReplyDelete
  6. Glad you brought this up. I agree with Indian homemaker, in celebration, lets not forget this.

    But on second thoughts, the increase in land prices has the numbers ticking. For eg a property bought 20 yrs ago for a lakh, close or even on the outskirts could now be worth atleast 60 to 80 lks, and if it has a house, it could easily be more than a crore. Which means even the aam admi -once middle class person is now a 'crorepati'. So the term doesn't exactly hold much value.

    Again I'm not in support of criminals and corruption in politics, its just an another point of view. And I'm sure that most of our netas' assests is still undisclosed and in the names of their close ones.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I guess a 'criminal record' and a Crore rupees stolen from Public is more like a 'eligibility' criteria now.

    Alas! The criminals from 'congress' are better than criminals from 'Left' parties and 'BJP'. :-)!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. @ Chikki's comment :)

    Charakan about so many Crorepathies in Parliament, if it's their hard earned money then it should be fine... we just need much stricter accountability, and detailed records of how much they have, and how it was earned... Just wondering.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Rahul Burman,yes the media did play a good role in highlighting the criminal candidates.National Election Watch also did a great job.
    Scraboney,
    yes money and muscle is a winning combination.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anrosh,yes those with money have a big advantage in elections.

    Aswadhy, yes owning prime land inflates your assets and a Crore is nothing now in Politics and business. But still many Indians are the poorest of the poor in the World and this 'Rich MPs' representing them is interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Chikki, lol,
    the better 'criminals' won.

    IHM, What ever the way they earned their assets I feel if you are rich your chances of winning election increases very much.Even big bribes are paid to Party bosses [or donations to Party funds]just to become a Candidate. [there was a rumour in Kerala that Sasi Tharoor had to donate 10lakh Rupees to Congress fund to ensure his candidacy]. Most Poltical Parties do not provide much funds and the Candidate will have to fend for himself during elections.Obviously the Rich can spend a lot from his/her pocket and win. Such victorious MPs may make sure that they get back double the amount they spend.

    Also richer the MPs lesser the chance of them taking up issues of the poor.
    May be public financing of elections may be a solution.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Corrupt politicians is one big blot on our otherwise good democracy.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Pradeep, true. Corruption is there every where but not in such organised manner as in India.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Easily I assent to but I about the list inform should have more info then it has.

    ReplyDelete

Comments are welcome especially if you do not think like me. But anonymous comments behind masks and those not relevant to the post are not encouraged.