POLITICS-CRIMINALIZATION
New Delhi, January 19, 2006 (PTI)
There is a proliferation of people with criminal record fighting elections, blurring the line between crime and politics further, a report by an NGO alleged.
The report, released by former Prime Minister I K Gujral and titled ‘Citizens Report on Governance and Development 2006, found 518 out of 3182 candidates across parties having criminal backgrounds while nearly 100, which is about one- fourth of the total, elected to the 14th Lok Sabha, have been chargesheeted in criminal cases.
The report has been prepared by the NGO, National Social Watch Coalition, which is an alliance of social groups, parliamentarians, academecia, policy makers and media practitioners with the objective of promotion of accountability and democratization of representative institutions.
The report claims that over 50 per cent of serious criminal cases registered against MPs were mostly from UP, Bihar, Jharkhand and MP.
In a state-wise analysis, the report shows that some MPs from Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Assam and J & K do not have criminal charges against them while criminal cases in the rest of the states vary from 11.9 per cent in West Bengal to 50 per cent in Jharkhand.
Analysing this trend in Indian politics, the report alleged that while politicians become tainted with criminality, high profile criminals succeed in entering representative institutions like Parliament and State Legislatures.
Lengthy legal procedures make conviction even more difficult, it added.
