25 Delhi MLAs have criminal cases against them

New Delhi: A total of 25 MLAs, including the maximum of 17 legislators from BJP, elected to the 70-member Delhi Assembly, have criminal cases against them.

The 2013 Delhi polls saw 22 MLAs being re-elected to the the assembly. Out of the 22 re-elected members, 15 have criminal cases against their name. More than 50 per cent of the MLAs of BJP, including its Chief Ministerial candidate Harsh Vardhan, face criminal charges. Out of 31 BJP legislators, 17 have criminal cases and among them 13 face serious criminal charges of murder, attempt to murder and crimes against women, a report by an NGO working in the area of electoral and political Reforms said. Of the 15 re-elected candidates, 10 had declared their criminal cases in 2008. The number of MLAs with criminal cases have gone down from 29 in 2008 to 25 this year. Debutant AAP has three MLAs, with criminal cases, while Congress has two, while one each of Shiromani Akali Dal and JD(U) an independent have declared criminal cases against them, a report by Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) said. Out of 25 MLAs with criminal cases, 20 have serious criminal cases like attempt to murder, dacoity and assault against women. Congress MLA from Okhla Asif Mohammed Khan has declared charges of attempt to murder against him, while three MLAs, including Harsh Vardhan, have cases of crime against women. Mohan Singh Bisht and Jai Krishan, both from BJP, also have cases of assault or use of criminal force on woman with intent to outrage their modesty. Three AAP leaders, including Arvind Kejriwal, face criminal charges. The other AAP MLAs are Manish Sisodia and Rajesh Garg Rohiniwala. All three have charges of rioting, obstructing public servant from performing their duty and others. SAD MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa, who is also the wealthiest candidate with an asset of Rs 235.51 crore, has cases of cheating and forgery against him.