Crime and Politics: India’s Criminal Politicians
The number of political parties in India is increasing every day. As per Election Commission of India, there are currently 2858 registered parties in India, of which eight are national parties, having a presence in more than one region, and 54 state level organizations. The rest of the 2000- odd parties are deemed to be ‘Unrecognized,’ meaning that they just exist mostly on paper. ‘The share of MPs (member of parliament) with criminal and serious criminal cases increased to 43% and 29%, according to an analysis of 539 winners in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. To be sure, at least some of such cases are politically motivated,’ reported Hindustan Times, New Delhi edition, dated August 11, 2021. Among the elections, the 2019 Lok Sabha polls saw the participation of 67 MPs who had declared criminal charges against them, followed by Bihar assembly elections 2020 where 54 MLAs having declared criminal charges contested. In 2019, while 39% of the BJP’s winning candidates had cr