Mumbai: Among the newly elected MLAs in the three states, where assembly polls concluded recently, Maharastra leads the list of largest number of legislators with criminal cases pending against them followed by Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh.
According to the data by National Election Watch, an NGO working for electoral reforms, a total of 143 newly elected MLAs in Maharastra have criminal records and the highest number of them -- 31 -- are from Shiv Sena, followed by BJP and Congress with 26 each and NCP (24 winning candidates).
There are also 36 successful candidates in the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly who are either independents or from other regional parties and have criminal cases pending against them, the data said.
While in the 90-member House in Haryana, 15 new MLAs face criminal charges, including six from Indian National Lok Dal and five from Congress.
Arunachal Pradesh, which has 60 assembly constituencies, have three winning MLAs from Congress with tainted background, it said.
The data was prepared after analysing the affidavits of candidates who contested in the recently-held assembly elections in the three states.
The NGO looked into the affidavits of a total of 3,297 candidates out of 3,565 contestants who were in the fray for Maharashtra Assembly elections.
Similarly, affidavits of 855 out of 1,222 candidates, who had contested elections in Haryana were analysed and in Arunachal Pradesh, the NGO made its analysis on the basis of affidavits of all the 157 candidates.
Bureau Report
First Published: Tuesday, October 27, 2009, 18:12