The morality of the politicians of our country is decreasing day by day. Many big leaders remain in the news every day due to their controversial statements. At the same time, criminal cases are being registered against many elected MLAs, MPs, ministers and other public representatives. Due to which the image of those working in the field of politics is getting tarnished.
Today, crime has become so mixed in the politics of the country that it is not known which public representative is a criminal and whose image is clean. Politics has become tainted due to people with criminal tendencies becoming leaders. At the same time, the distance between the leaders and the public has also started increasing.
In the present times, politics has become a business. Only those people succeed in politics who either belong to the family of big leaders or have a lot of money. Now service, organization, loyal workers have no importance in the field of politics. Politics has completely become involved in the glamour of money.
There was a time when a party worker working on the ground would later become a public representative. A leader rising from the ground was connected to the common people and was also aware of the joys and sorrows of the people.
Therefore, he used to work in the interest of the common people. But now people have started doing politics by parachuting on the basis of money. They win elections only on the basis of money.
Therefore, they have nothing to do with the problems of the common people. Such leaders are the carriers of the five-star culture. Such leaders first spend a lot of money to enter politics and when they reach a position, they earn money by doing corruption. It is because of such people that today politics has become a business instead of social service.
I have seen Shivnath Singh Gill, who defeated Krishna Kumar Birla of the country’s biggest industrial house in the Jhunjhunu seat in the 1971 Lok Sabha elections, as an MLA from 1998 to 2003.
He always used government buses to go from his constituency to Jaipur or from his house to the Vidhan Sabha. He never travelled in private vehicles. Due to this, he played a 50-year long innings in politics. He was honest and hence lived honestly. Today we see that even small workers of political parties travel in expensive vehicles worth several lakhs of rupees. No leader of the party asks them where the money comes from to buy such expensive vehicles. Everyone knows that in politics today, even the cheap and bhaiya leaders are earning money by brokering power. Big leaders also have a share in the brokerage money. That is why no one points a finger at him.
A report by the Association of Democratic Reforms, an NGO working on election reforms, has revealed that 45 percent of the MLAs of the country have criminal cases registered against them. This organization has analyzed the election affidavits of 4092 out of a total of 4123 MLAs from 28 states and three union territories with assemblies. In which the highest number of 138 out of 174 MLAs of Andhra Pradesh i.e. 79 percent, while the lowest number of 3 percent MLAs of Sikkim have declared criminal cases against themselves. Out of the highest number of 134 MLAs of Telugu Desam Party, 115 i.e. 86 percent have criminal cases registered against them.
The above report revealed that 1861 MLAs have declared criminal cases registered against them. In this, 1205 have serious charges like murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping and crimes against women. According to the report, 54 MLAs are accused of murder under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code. Whereas 226 are accused of attempt to murder under Section 307 and Section 109 of the Indian Penal Code. Apart from this, cases of crimes against women are registered against 127 MLAs. Of these, 13 have been charged with rape under sections 376 and 376 (2)(d) of the Indian Penal Code. Section 376 (2)(d) deals with repeated sexual assault on the same victim.
According to the report of the Association of Democratic Reforms, out of 543 Lok Sabha members, 251 (46 percent) have criminal cases registered against them. 27 of them have been convicted.
According to the report, this is the largest number of candidates facing criminal charges to be elected to the Lok Sabha. A total of 233 MPs (43 percent) had declared criminal cases against themselves. While criminal cases were registered against 185 (34 percent) MPs in 2014, 162 (30 percent) in 2009 and 125 (23 percent) MPs in 2004. Out of 251 candidates elected to the Lok Sabha in 2024, 170 (31 percent) have serious criminal cases registered against them including rape, murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping and crimes against women. The analysis showed that this is also an increase compared to 159 (29 per cent) MPs in 2019, 112 (21 per cent) MPs in 2014 and 76 (14 per cent) MPs in 2009.
According to ADR, 94 (39 per cent) of the 240 winning candidates of the BJP, which emerged as the single largest party in the 18th Lok Sabha, have declared criminal cases. 49 (49 per cent) of the 99 winning candidates of the Congress have declared criminal cases and 21 (45 per cent) of the 37 candidates of the Samajwadi Party have criminal charges against them. The analysis found that 63 (26 per cent) BJP candidates, 32 (32 per cent) Congress candidates and 17 (46 per cent) Samajwadi Party candidates have declared serious criminal cases. It said that seven (24 per cent) TMC candidates, six (27 per cent) DMK candidates, five (31 per cent) TDP candidates and four (57 per cent) Shiv Sena candidates are facing serious criminal cases.
According to the report, 19 out of 20 MPs from Kerala (95 per cent) have criminal cases registered against them out of which 11 are related to serious crimes. 14 out of 17 MPs from Telangana (82 per cent), 16 out of 21 MPs from Odisha (76 per cent), 10 out of 14 MPs from Jharkhand (71 per cent) and 26 out of 39 MPs from Tamil Nadu (67 per cent) have criminal cases pending against them. On the other hand, about 50 per cent MPs in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Bihar, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have criminal cases registered against them. On the other hand, only one MP each from Haryana (10) and Chhattisgarh (11) have criminal cases registered against them. 2 out of 13 MPs from Punjab, 3 out of 14 from Assam, 3 out of 7 from Delhi, 4 out of 25 from Rajasthan, 5 out of 25 from Gujarat and 9 out of 29 MPs from Madhya Pradesh have criminal cases pending against them.
As of January 1, 2025, a total of 4,732 criminal cases were pending against current or former MLAs. Of these, the highest number of cases is registered in Uttar Pradesh at 1,171. Cases are pending in Odisha (457), Bihar (448), Maharashtra (442), Madhya Pradesh (326), Kerala (315), Telangana (313), Karnataka (255), Tamil Nadu (220), Jharkhand (133) and Delhi (124).
Looking at the above figures, it seems that the number of criminals in the politics of our country is increasing rapidly. If this is not curbed in time, it will become a big canker for the country. There will be a time when politics will be completely criminalized and people with clean image will move away from politics. Such a situation will not be good for the country. The government will also have to take strict steps in this direction, only then the increasing number of criminals in politics will be curbed.
(The author is a freelance journalist recognized by the Rajasthan government.)