Over 100 MLAs in Bihar Assembly face criminal charges

About 110 members of Bihar Legislative Assembly have pending criminal cases against them, including for serious crimes such as murder, kidnapping and extortion, says a new survey.

According to a latest survey conducted by Association of

Democratic reforms and National Election Watch, an umbrella

body of about 1,000 NGOs across the country, a total of 109

MLAs in the 243-member Assembly have criminal cases pending

against them.

Out of these, 64 members have serious criminal charges pending against them, according to the data.

The analysis was done on the basis of affidavits submitted by a total of 919 candidates for contesting Bihar Assembly elections in 2005. Out of which, 358 had declared pending criminal cases against them and 213 had serious criminal cases pending against them.

The ADR-NEW analysed affidavits of 233 MLAs and found

that 109 had pending criminal cases against them when elected.

A highest of 39 MLAs were from JD(U), followed by 32 from BJP

and 19 from RJD among others.

Six people from LJP and three from Congress had criminal cases pending against them when they were elected, the data claimed.

A highest of 32 cases were registered against Pradip Kumar, an independent candidate who won the election from Warsaliganj constituency, followed by 25 cases against Kishore Kumar, who won the poll from Sonbarsa.

"MLAs like Rajesh Kumar Raushan (RJD) from Kesariya and

Manoranjan Singh (JD-U) from Baniapur, all were charged with

more than 15 IPC sections related to murder, kidnapping and

robbery," the survey said.

The Association has demanded that upcoming Bihar assembly

election should be free of candidates having criminal

background and urged the political parties not to give tickets

to tainted candidates.

The six-phase elections in 243-member Legislative Assembly in Bihar are scheduled from October 21.

"An attempt must be made to change the trend which existed in the Bihar Assembly election, 2005. Parties before releasing their list of candidates for the elections should make sure that they do not field any candidates with criminal background," the association said.

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