Many anti-corruption movements have highlighted the increasing criminalisation of politics. Yet, there seems to be no connection between electoral gains and criminalisaiton. If anything, it seems to work in the candidates’ favour. Consider this: the recently concluded Gujarat elections saw 57 MLAs (31%) with criminal cases of the total 182 MLAs analysed by
Association for Democratic Reforms, which is run by a group of professors of Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. ADR’s mission is to improve governance by empowering the electorate and greater accountability of political parties.
IndiaSpend looks at the ADR document that analyses criminal cases against MLAs in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa. And we find that Uttar Pradesh has the maximum number of MLAs with criminal cases (35%). The following table gives an idea of the MLAs of 4 states when it comes to criminal charges:
Table 1: Criminal MLAs | States | Total Number of MLAs Analysed | MLAs with Pending Criminal Cases | %of MLAs with Pending Criminal Cases | MLAs with Serious Pending Criminal Cases | % of MLAs with Serious Pending Criminal Cases |
| Uttar Pradesh | 403 | 143 | 35 | 76 | 19 |
| Gujarat | 182 | 57 | 31 | 24 | 13 |
| Punjab | 117 | 20 | 17 | 5 | 4 |
| Uttarakhand | 70 | 17 | 24 | 7 | 10 |
Out of the total number of 872 MLAs studied by ADR (including Manipur and Goa), 247 had pending criminal cases against them.
From the graph, it is seen that Uttar Pradesh has the highest percentage of MLAs with pending criminal cases, and also tops the list with MLAs having serious pending criminal cases. Gujarat, incidentally, has a lower number of MLAs but is very near to Uttar Pradesh when it comes to percentage of MLAs with criminal charges. Uttarakhand has lower number of MLAs than Punjab but has a greater percentage of MLAs with criminal charges. Table 2 gives an idea of the top 3 MLAs of these states who have the maximum number of criminal cases registered against them:
Table 2: Criminal MLAs | Name | District/Constituency | Party | Total Number of Cases | Serious IPC Counts |
| Uttar Pradesh |
| Dhirendra Pratap Singh | Balrampur/Balrampur | BSP | 29 | 13 |
| Sushil Kumar | Chandauli/Dhanapur | BSP | 14 | 13 |
| Ram Prakash Yadav | Firozabad/Jasrana | IND | 11 | 12 |
| Gujarat |
| Vasava Chhotubhai Amarsinh | Bharuch/Jhagadia | JD (U) | 28 | 27 |
| Chaudhuri Shankarbhai Lagdhirbhai | Banaskantha/VAV | BJP | 4 | 7 |
| Amit Anilchandra Shah | Ahmedabad/Naranpura | BJP | 2 | 7 |
| Punjab |
| Capt.Balbir Singh Bath | Gurdaspur/Srihargobindpur | SAD | 1 | 3 |
| Nirmal Singh Kahlon | Gurdaspur/Fatehgarh | SAD | 6 | 2 |
| Kanwarjit Singh | Muktsar/Muktsar | INC | 1 | 1 |
| Uttarakhand |
| Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank | Pohrigarhwal/Thalisain | BJP | 3 | 1 |
| Ganesh Joshi | Dehradun/Rajpur | BJP | 3 | 1 |
| Gopal Singh | Udhamsinghnagar/Khatima | INC | 3 | 1 |
Most of the cases against Gujarat MLAs are related to rioting. The charge against Gopal Singh of Uttarakhand is also related to communal disharmony. And most others have one thing in common- attempt to murder. While Gujarat MLAs figuring in the table are sitting MLAs, interestingly, none of the MLAs of other states are sitting MLAs now...