Context:
Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) Report highlights the increasing trend on criminalisation of politics.
Key Highlights:
- Out of the 514 sitting Lok Sabha MPs analysed, 225 (44 per cent) have declared criminal cases against themselves
- Out of those analysed, 5% are billionaires, with assets exceeding ₹100 crore.
- Among the sitting MPs with criminal charges, 29% face serious criminal cases, including allegations of murder, attempt to murder, promoting communal disharmony, kidnapping, and crimes against women.
- Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Himachal Pradesh have more than 50% of their MPs facing criminal charges.
- Only 15% of the sitting MPs are women
Criminalisation of Politics:
- Criminalisation of Politics – Refers to infiltration of criminals, lawbreakers, and corrupt individuals into political system, who then use their influence to further their own interests at cost of country and its citizens.
- Reasons –
- Growing nexus between political parties and criminals.
- Lack of laws and rules for governing elections procedure.
- Increasing role of money power and muscle power in politics
- Impacts –
- Against free and fair elections.
- Affects good governance and integrity of public servants.
- Corrupt activities causes social disharmony
- Erodes public trust
Important Supreme Court (SC) judgements:
- Lily Thomas Vs UOI (2013) – MPs, State Legislatures convicted of crime with a minimum sentence of 2 years imprisonment would cease to be members of the house.
- Public Interest Foundation v UOI (2018) – A person cannot be disqualified from membership in a legislative body on mere framing of criminal charges against them.
State Funding of Elections:
- State Funding of Elections – Recommended as a solution to curb the use of black money and address criminalization of politics.
- Recommended by – Dinesh Goswami(1990) and Inderjeet Committee(1988)
Source: The Hindu
Previous Year Question
Right to vote and to be elected in India is a:
[UPSC Civil Service Exam – 2017 Prelims]
(a) Fundamental Right
(b) Natural Rights
(c) Constitutional Right
(d) Legal Right
Answer: (c)
