Bhubaneswar: About 46 per cent newly-elected members of the Odisha Legislative Assembly face criminal cases, a survey report revealed.

According to the report by Odisha Election Watch (OEW) and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) after announcement of poll results, 67 MLAs of the 146 newly-elected MLAs have declared criminal cases in their affidavits.

Of the 147 MLAs analysed during Odisha Assembly Elections in 2014, the percentage was lower than 2019 Odisha Elections. In previous polls, 52 (35 per cent) MLAs had declared criminal cases against themselves.

Similarly, 49 (34 per cent) elected MLAs in 2019 Odisha polls face serious criminal cases including murder, attempt to murder and kidnapping. In the 2014 elections, 41 (28 per cent) had declared serious criminal cases against, the post-poll ADR report stated.

Out of MLAs with serious criminal cases, two have declared cases related to murder under Section 302 of the IPC and 11 MLAs have declared cases related to attempt to murder under IPC Section 307.

The report showed that Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has maximum MLAs elected to Assembly with criminal antecedents. However, Congress topped the list in terms of percentage of MLAs with criminal cases. Among the MLAs (party wise), 46 (41 per cent) out of 112 MLAs from BJD, 14 (61 per cent) out of 23 MLAs from BJP and 6 (67 per cent) out of 9 elected legislators from Congress have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

Moreover, 33 (30 per cent) out of 112 MLAs from BJD, 10 (44 per cent) out of 23 MLAs from BJP and five (56 per cent) out of 9 MLAs from Congress have serious criminal cases against themselves.

Earlier, the report prepared by OEW and ADR based on the affidavits filed by the poll candidates, who were contesting in fourth phase Assembly Elections, revealed that a whopping 72 out of a total 346 candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves and 52 have declared serious criminal cases.