THE CRIMINALS WE ELECT
The Supreme Court decided last week that it would leave it to Parliament to legislate to prevent politicians with serious charges against them from contesting elections. The court agreed that there was a “steady increase in the level of criminality creeping into politics”, but insisted it was not its place to impose new rules. It did, however, ask for increased transparency, for candidates and parties to publish criminal histories to enable voters to make informed choices. Already, the court, in 2013, ruled that convicted criminals, who had been sentenced to more than two years in prison, would not be permitted to continue as MPs or contest polls for six years after their release. The Election Commission has told the SC that it supports a lifetime ban for politicians convicted of certain crimes. But the court, aware of the separation of powers, left it to Parliament to frame such a law. But is that House, in which a third of the members face criminal charges, often ‘heinous’, motivated to effect this change?
34%
Lok Sabha MPs or 184 out of 542 winners analysed by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), face criminal charges; 98/282 members of the BJP (35%) and 8/44 Congress MPs (18%)
12
Special courts sanctioned by the government to fast track trials this year, with a budget of Rs 7.8 crore; 41% (1,233) of cases transferred to these courts, and verdicts delivered in just 136 (11%)
13%
Chance of winning an election for candidates with a criminal background, an ADR analysis of 2014 Lok Sabha polls showed; 5% for candidates with clean records
1,765
MPs and MLAs out of 4,896 (36%) legislators in Parliament and state assemblies face criminal charges in 3,045 trials, the Centre told the Supreme Court in March this year
38
Convictions in criminal cases involving MPs and MLAs, as per affidavit submitted to the SC by the government on September 11, 2018; 560 acquittals, a conviction rate of 6.4%
15
Sitting MPs have charges of hate speech pending against them, and 43 MLAs, says ADR; 10/15 MPs and 17/43 MLAs are from the BJP
6
Years that an MP candidate is barred from contesting elections, if convicted for a crime punishable with 2 years in jail and having served their sentence