The Uttar Pradesh assembly now has 205 MLAs with criminal cases against them, whereas after the 2017 elections there were 143 MLAs with criminal cases.

Data regarding criminal cases against newly-elected MLAs was shared by the Uttar Pradesh Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) after analysing the affidavits of all 403 winning candidates in the just-concluded elections.

The data also revealed that 366 MLAs are crorepatis. In the 2017 elections, 322 MLAs were crorepatis.

“Out of the 403 winning candidates 205 (51%) have declared criminal cases against themselves. Out of 402 MLAs analysed during assembly elections in 2017, 143 (36%) had declared criminal cases against themselves,” said Sanjay Singh, coordinator ADR.

Serious criminal cases: 158 (39%) winning candidates have declared serious criminal cases, including cases related to murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, crimes against women etc. Out of 402 MLAs analysed during assembly elections in 2017, 107 (26%) had declared serious criminal cases against themselves.

Five winning candidates have declared cases related to murder (IPC section-302) while another 29 have declared cases of attempt to murder (section-307) and six others have declared cases related to crimes against women. Among these six, one candidate has declared cases related to rape, said the press statement from ADR.

“A party-wise analysis revealed 111 (44%) out of 255 winning candidates from BJP, 71 (64%) out of 111 winning candidates from SP, 7 (88%) out of 8 winning candidates from RLD, 4 (67%) out of 6 winning candidates from Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party, 4 (67%) out of 6 winning candidates from Nirbal Indian Shoshit Hamara Aam Dal, 3 (25%) out of 12 winning candidates from Apna Dal (Sonelal), 2 (100%) from Jansatta Dal Loktantrik, 2 (100%) from Congress and 1(100%) BSP winning candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits,” said Singh.

Speaking on the criminal cases against MLAs, SP spokesperson Abdul Hafiz Gandhi said: “We are against criminalisation of politics. We want the central government to bring a law to cleanse politics. The law should bar those politicians against whom charge-sheets have been filed in heinous offences. For debarment, only such cases should be considered in which the FIR is filed at least a year prior to an election. This law would discourage the entry of criminals into politics. We are of the considered view that cases filed during agitations and processions should be exempted from debarment.”

UP BJP spokesman Harish Srivastava said: “The BJP has always provided a clean governance. Our campaign pitch was clearly against Mafiosi culture and people backed us. Most of cases against our candidates were political in nature.”

MLAs’ assets: According to the analysis of the affidavits, out of the 403 winning candidates, 366 (91%) are crorepatis. Out of 402 MLAs analysed during the assembly elections in 2017, 322 (80%) MLAs were crorepatis, said Singh.

The average assets per winning candidate in the assembly elections 2022 is ₹8.06 crore. In the 2017 assembly elections it was ₹5.92 crore.

The average asset per winning candidate for 255 BJP winners is ₹8.14 crore, for 111 SP winning candidates it is ₹7.39 crore, for 12 Apna Dal (Sonelal) winners it is ₹7.13 crore, for 8 RLD winning candidates it is ₹7.56 crore, for 6 Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party winners it is ₹7.94 crores, for 6 Nirbal Indian Shoshit Hamara Aam Dal winners it is ₹6.64 crore, for 2 Congress winning candidates it is ₹19.71 crore and for 2 Jansatta Dal Loktantrik winners it is ₹13.75 crore.

Education: In all 87 (22%) winning candidates have declared their educational qualification to be between 8th pass and 12th pass, while 305 (76%) winners have declared being graduates and above. There are 3 winners who are diploma holders. Seven winning candidates have declared to be just literate and one MLA has not given his educational qualification.

Age details: In all, 169 (42%) winning candidates have declared their age to be between 25 and 50 years, while 232 (58%) winners have declared their age to be between 51 and 80 years. Two winners have declared that they are more than 80 years’ old, said the ADR press statement.

Gender: Out of 403 MLAs, 47 (12%) are women. In 2017, out of the 402 MLAs, 40 (10%) were women.