The union territory of Puducherry has the dubious distinction of having the laziest legislators in India. A report shows that in comparison to the other four poll-bound states -- Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal and Assam -- the legislative assembly in Puducherry had the lowest number of sittings in the past 5 years.
Nine ministers in the Manmohan Singh-led United Progressive Alliance government have criminal records pending against them. Of the nine ministers, one minister face serious charges, according to a National Election Watch report.
In spite of the Election Commission's repeated pleas against the criminalisation of politics, few political parties have paid any heed to it and have continued to field candidates with a dubious record in the forthcoming Bihar assembly polls.
The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam will go to the polls this year with 43 candidates who have pending criminal charges against them, while their arch rival Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam has fielded 24 such candidates, according to a report by the National Election Watch.
Fifteen candidates in the recently concluded elections to the Rajya Sabha have pending criminal cases against them, of which six of them have serious charges, a report by the Association of Democaratic Reforms and National Election Watch has stated.
The Election Commission on Saturday expressed concern over the registered political parties which do not contest polls but said it has no power to de-register them.
Maharashtra will see a total of 588 candidates with a criminal background battling the elections this time. A report prepared by the National Election Watch states that of the 3,559 candidates battling in the elections, 588 have a criminal background.
Dr Manmohan Singh's government has 47 crorepati ministers in it. Nationalist Congress Party leader Praful Patel is the richest of the lot with assets worth Rs 89.9 crore.
Whatever else the outcome of the forthcoming assembly elections in Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh, it would be interesting to see if the electorate votes in as many candidates with criminal charges against them as it did the last time around.
The Samajwadi Party tops the list as of now with 6 candidates with a criminal history and pending criminal cases. The Congress is second with 4 while the Bharatiya Janata Party is at third with 3 such tainted candidates.
An organisation that is trying to prevent people with criminal charges against them from contesting the coming general elections has started with a look at the sitting lawmakers. Of the 543 Members of Parliament in the Lok Sabha, 123 or 24 per cent are criminals.
The Association for Democratic Reforms, in association with the National Election Watch, has compiled the list of the poorest Members of Parliament. The list is based on the assets declared by the candidates, before the Election Commission, when they had filed their nominations for the Lok Sabha polls.
The average assets of an MP are now 345.8 times that of an annual income of a tax-filing individual, reports Sachin P Mampatta.
The BJP has the maximum number of such politicians.
The report by Association for Democratic Reforms has the highest number of such politicians at 12.
1581 MPs with criminal background will elect next President of India.
Hoping that the 14th Prime Minister will provide clean and exemplary governance, the National Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms wrote to the Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi, requesting him not to induct those who had criminal cases registered against them into Parliament and his Cabinet.
As many as 51 MPs and MLAs have declared cases of crime against women.
Eight of the newly inducted ministers in the Union cabinet have criminal cases against them, a report released by election watchdog Non-Governmental Organisation's on Monday said.
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Disclosing details of his assets, he said the reports about the rise in his wealth had been done without checking facts.
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Disclosing details of his assets, he said the reports about the rise in his wealth had been done without checking facts.
The National Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms have analysed the affidavits of 165 MPs who were elected again in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
According to a document by the Association for Democratic Reforms, the average number of years a case against a member of Parliament or a member of Legislative Assembly is pending is seven years. Vicky Nanjappa reports
The election commission had upped the expense limit for Lok Sabha elections from Rs 40 lakh to Rs 70 lakh per candidate in big states but a new report states that 537 MPs declared expenses of less than 50 per cent of the limit. Vicky Nanjappa/Rediff.com reports
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