Nearly 46 percent of sitting MLAs who changed political parties after elections face criminal charges, with 38 percent facing serious criminal charges under the IPC. Among turncoat MLAs, 88 percent were crorepatis, according to data released by the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR).
As many as 120 MLAs across India switched parties after elections, the ADR said in a report. The Bharatiya Janata Party gained the most number of these MLAs, with 42 percent of them joining the party.
The Congress lost the most number of MLAs – about 28 percent of the turncoat MLAs were originally from the party.
Among the 50 MLAs that joined the BJP, as many as 20 were originally with the Congress. The highest number of turncoat MLAs were from Telangana, followed by Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, according to the report by ADR, which analysed the current legislative assembly of each state.
In Telangana, all MLAs except T Raja Singh, who was suspended by the BJP and became an independent MLA, went to the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, now known as the Bharat Rashtra Samithi.
The large number in Maharashtra was due to the split in the Shiv Sena in late June 2022.
Criminal netas
As much as 44 percent of the 4,001 MLAs covered in the study had criminal cases against them, with 28 percent facing serious criminal cases including charges such as murder, attempt to murder, and kidnapping.
At 202, Uttar Pradesh had the most number of MLAs with criminal cases. And as many as 155 MLAs from the state had serious criminal cases against them.
Percentage-wise, Kerala led the list with 70 percent of sitting MLAs in the state having criminal cases against them. However, these criminal cases include those filed against MLAs during protests and agitations. If only serious criminal cases are considered, the figure drops to 27 percent for Kerala.
Among political parties, the BJP had the highest number of MLAs with criminal cases (479) and serious criminal cases (337).
The Congress has 334 MLAs with declared criminal cases and 194 MLAs with serious criminal cases.
Crorepati MLAs
According to the ADR report, MLAs in India had assets worth Rs 13.63 crore on average. The report noted that the average assets of MLAs with criminal cases were Rs 16.36 crore, higher than the average assets of MLAs with no criminal cases, at Rs 11.45 crore.
Karnataka led with regard to the average assets of MLA, as shown in the chart. The state also had the highest share of billionaire MLAs – 32 MLAs from the state had assets worth more than Rs 100 crore.
Individually, MLAs from Karnataka also took up the top three spots in the list of MLAs with the highest amount of assets.
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