By IANS,
New Delhi : At least 36 percent of the new legislators in Delhi have criminal cases registered against them, an analysis of election affidavits by the Association of Democratic Reform and the Delhi Election Watch reveals.
The analysis was released Monday.
This translates to 25 of the 70 MLAs having declared criminal cases against their names.
Of these, there are at least 15 re-elected MLAs who declared criminal cases in 2013. Of these, 10 declared criminal cases in the 2008 assembly elections too.
The list includes Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) chief ministerial candidate Harsh Vardhan and his counterpart from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Arvind Kejriwal.
Harsh Vardhan from the Krishna Nagar constituency has a charge of word, gesture or act intended to insult a woman’s modesty.
Kejriwal has charges of voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public servant from doing his duty, rioting, etc.
The break-up of MLAs with criminal cases is: 17 of 31 from the BJP (55 percent), 3 of 28 debuting for the AAP (11 percent) and two of eight representing the Congress (25 percent).
One MLA from the Janata Dal (United), one from the Shiromani Akali Dal and one independent also have declared criminal cases against them.
Of the 25 MLAs, 20 have declared serious criminal cases like attempt to murder, dacoity and assault against women, etc.
Congress’s Asif Mohd Khan from the Okhla constituency has declared charges of attempt to murder against him.
BJP’s Mohan Singh Bisht from Karawal Nagar and Congress’s Jai Kishan of Sultanpur Majra have a case of assault or criminal force against a woman with intent to outrage her modesty.
In 2008, 43 percent MLAs had declared criminal cases.