New Delhi: About 31 per cent of sitting Rajya Sabha MPs have declared criminal cases against themselves while the average assets of the Upper House members are Rs 79.54 crore, according to a report released by ADR-National Election Watch.
Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch have analyzed the criminal, financial and other background details of 226 out of 233 sitting MPs.
In the current Rajya Sabha, one seat is vacant. Two MPs have not been analysed as their affidavits were unavailable and four seats of Jammu and Kashmir are undefined, the report said.
Of the 226 sitting Rajya Sabha MPs, 197 (87 per cent) are ‘crorepatis’ and the average assets per Rajya Sabha MP are Rs 79.54 crore, the report said.
Of 226 Rajya Sabha members, 71 (31 per cent) have declared criminal cases against themselves and 37 (16 per cent) have declared serious criminal cases.
According to the report, two Rajya Sabha MPs have declared cases related to murder (IPC Section 302) and four MPs have declared cases related to attempt to murder (IPC Section 307).
Four Rajya Sabha MPs have declared cases related to crimes against women and out of these four MPs, one namely K C Venugopal (Congress) from Rajasthan has declared case related to rape (IPC Section 376), the report said.
According to the report, 20 (24 per cent) out of 85 Rajya Sabha MPs from BJP, 12 (39 per cent) out of 31 MPs from Congress, three (23 per cent) out of 13 from AITC, five (83 per cent) out of six from RJD, four (80 per cent) out of five from CPI(M), three (30 per cent) out of 10 from AAP, three (33 per cent) out of nine from YSRCP and two (50 per cent) out of four Rajya Sabha MPs from NCP have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.
The report said nine (11 per cent) out of 85 Rajya Sabha MPs from BJP, eight (26 per cent) out of 31 MPs from Congress, one (8 per cent) out of 13 Rajya Sabha MPs from AITC, three (50 per cent) out of six MPs from RJD, two (40 per cent) out of five from CPI (M), one (10 per cent) out of 10 from AAP, three (33 per cent) out of nine from YSRCP and one (25 per cent) out of four Rajya Sabha MPs from NCP have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.
Giving state-wise details, the report said that seven (23 per cent) out of 31 Rajya Sabha MPs from Uttar Pradesh, 12 (63 per cent) out of 19 MPs from Maharashtra, six (33 per cent) out of 18 from Tamil Nadu, three (19 per cent) out of 16 from West Bengal, six (67 per cent) out of nine from Kerala and 10 (63 per cent) out of 16 Rajya Sabha MPs from Bihar have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.