146 newly elcted MLAs face criminal cases in Telangana, TRS tops list

Hyderabad: Out of a total of 119 newly elected MLAs, in Telangana, 64 are facing criminal cases. Of them, the TRS tops the list with 40 MLAs followed by the TD at 9, Congress 6, MIM 3, BJP 2 and Others 3.

In Seemandhra, out of the total 175 newly elected MLAs, 82 are facing criminal cases. While the TD tops the list with 52 MLAs, the YSRC stood second at 29. There are no criminal cases against the four newly elected BJP MLAs, while one from other category faces criminal cases.

This was disclosed by the Forum for Good Governance, which examined the antecedents of newly elected MLAs and MPs based on the affidavits filed by candidates with the Election Commission.

As far as the newly elected MPs are concerned, in Telangana, 8 out of 17 elected, face criminal cases, while 11 out of 25 elected, face criminal cases in Seemandhra. The TRS topped the list with 5 such MPs, in Telangana and there is one each from Congress, BJP and MIM. There are no criminal cases against the sole newly elected TD MP.

In Seemandhra, TD stood at the top with 15 elected MPs facing criminal cases, followed by the YSRC at 4 and the BJP 1. Forum for Good Governance secretary, Padmanabha Reddy said that many affidavits filed by candidates were not clear and full of inconsistencies. Since there is no mechanism with EC to verify whether the information is authentic, the candidates did not provide full information.

He added that the affidavits had many columns and sub-columns, which was leading to confusion and urged EC to simplify the affidavits, besides setting up a mechanism for verification of criminal cases and as well as of their assets and liabilities.