A sizable number of India’s newly elected members of the Lok Sabha are crorepatis with criminal antecedents, revealed an analysis by the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) on Thursday.

As per the study, a record 251 (46 per cent) of the 543 newly elected members have declared criminal cases against them, and a staggering 93 per cent are crorepatis. Further, 170 of the 251 have serious criminal cases against them, including those of rape, kidnapping, murder, and assault.

The trend of poll winners facing charges of serious crimes is alarming, according to the study.

In the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, 76 MPs (14 per cent) faced charges of serious crime, which increased to 112 MPs (21 per cent) in 2014, followed by 159 MPs (29 per cent) in 2019 and 170 winners (31 per cent) in the latest elections.

“The results show that serious crime coupled with extreme wealth definitely plays a role in winning elections,” stated ADR Goa convenor Bhasker Assoldekar.

“The candidates themselves were not true representatives of the average Indian, but the winners’ profile is shocking. This year, the average asset of the poll winners is Rs 46.3 crore, which is way above the wealth of an average Indian. I am sure not even 50 per cent of the population in India has wealth above Rs 5 crore,” said Assoldekar.

He said that money and muscle power rule the roost with each passing election. Crorepati minister per se is not an issue. However, the poll winners in this election are super crorepatits,” said Assoldekar.

The ADR report also analysed the gender disparity among elected winners. Only 74 poll winners (14 per cent) are women, which is no way close to the 33 per cent reservation for women legislators in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

According to the information provided by the election watchdog body, the Lok Sabha 2024 elections this year are historic because of their scale. The elections were held in seven phases lasting 45 days for 543 constituencies, from April 19 to June 1. The election was also the most expensive, as it cost the government Rs 1.35 lakh crore, as against the expected cost of Rs 1 lakh crore. In comparison, the Lok Sabha 2019 elections cost the government Rs 64,000 crore.

The results were declared for all states on June 4.