35% of Newly Elected MLAs in Karnataka Have Declared Criminal Cases Against Them

Out of 221 newly elected MLAs in Karnataka, 77 have criminal cases against them, says a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR). Of these MLAs, one fourth have serious criminal cases against them, which may include offences such as assault, murder, kidnap and rape

The report shows that while in 2008, 24 per cent of the elected MLAs had cases with criminal background, this figure rose to 34 per cent in 2013 and is now at 35 per cent in 2018. This shows an increase of 11 per cent over a decade or an addition of 24 MLAs with criminal background.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has emerged as the largest party in the legislature with 103 seats, has 42 MLAs or 41per cent of MLAs with criminal background, while the Congress and JD(S) both have 30 per cent of MLAs elected with declared criminal background. This fact shows the hollow nature of BJP’s campaign slogans of fighting crime and corruption.

With regard to wealth, the vast majority of elected MLAs, across all parties, are crorepatis .The proportion of crorepatis has also shot up over the past decade, going from 63 per cent in 2008 to 93 per cent in 2013 and now 97 per cent in 2018. Of these, the report says that 50 per cent have wealth over Rs.10 crores. These figures are significant of the power of money in the elections.

The three elected MLAs with the highest declared assets all belong to the Congress – contrary to the popular belief that it is only the BJP, which has used money power during the elections. Additionally, while the average assets per MLA for the BJP is Rs.17.4 crore, for the Congress it is Rs.60.26 crore.

Reflecting the high imbalance in terms of gender, only seven women will be a part of the new legislature that comprises a total of 221 MLAs. This figure has only marginally gone up from five women members in the house in 2013 and reflects the failure in ensuring gender equality in political representation.

In terms of age, 138 or 62 per cent MLAs fall in the age bracket of 41 to 60 years, 64 or 29 per cent are between 61 and 80 years old and just 16 or 7 per cent are between 25 and 40 years old. About educational qualifications, the report says that 65 per cent MLAs have declared themselves as graduates or above; 36 per cent of MLAs are class V-XII pass. One MLA has declared himself as just “literate” and one MLA has not declared anything.