Srinagar: A new report by the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) has revealed that 44% of India’s parliamentarians have criminal cases registered against them.
The report, which analyzed the criminal records of a total of 4,033 members of Parliament, found that 28% of parliamentarians have serious criminal cases, including murder, attempted murder, and crimes against women.
The report is a damning indictment of the state of Indian politics. It shows that a significant number of the people who are elected to represent the Indian people have serious criminal records. This raises serious questions about the quality of Indian democracy.
The report also found that the number of parliamentarians with criminal records has increased in recent years. In 2014, only 34% of parliamentarians had criminal records. This suggests that the problem of criminals in Indian politics is getting worse, not better.
The ADR report is not the first to highlight the problem of criminals in Indian politics. In 2018, another report by the National Election Watch (NEW) found that 39% of parliamentarians had criminal cases registered against them.
The NEW report also found that the number of parliamentarians with criminal records has increased steadily over the past decade. In 2009, only 23% of parliamentarians had criminal records.
The problem of criminals in Indian politics is a serious one. It undermines the credibility of Indian democracy and raises questions about the ability of the government to deliver on its promises.
The ADR report calls for a number of reforms to address the problem of criminals in Indian politics. These include:
- Making it mandatory for all candidates to disclose their criminal records before they can contest elections.
- Creating a database of all candidates with criminal records and making it publicly available.
- Prohibiting candidates with serious criminal records from contesting elections.
The ADR report also calls for a public awareness campaign to educate voters about the problem of criminals in Indian politics.
The problem of criminals in Indian politics is a complex one. However, the ADR report provides a number of concrete recommendations that could help to address this problem.
It is time for the Indian government to take action to clean up Indian politics and restore the credibility of Indian democracy.
