25 per cent of newly elected Tamil Nadu MLAs have serious criminal cases against them: Report

CHENNAI: A total of 25 per cent of the candidates elected during the 2021 Tamil Nadu elections have serious criminal cases against them, according to a report by the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch.

The report titled 'Tamil Nadu Assembly Election 2021 Analysis of Criminal Background, Financial, Education, Gender and Other Details of Winning Candidates' said 57 of the 224 candidates whose affidavits were analysed have serious criminal cases against them. In the last elections, the state had elected 42 MLAs with serious criminal cases, which accounted for 19 per cent of candidates.

The report states that two of the winning candidates have declared cases related to murder (IPC Section-302) against themselves and 13 winning candidates have declared cases of attempt to murder (IPC Section-307). Three winning candidates have declared cases related to crimes against women and of these, one has declared a case related to rape.

Meanwhile, the average assets per winning candidate in the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections this time is Rs 12.27 crore. This is more than the average assets per MLA in the 2016 Assembly elections, which was Rs 8.21 crore.

This time, 192 of the 224 winners whose details were analysed by ADR -- 86 per cent -- are crorepatis compared to 170 in the last assembly elections. Of these, 111 are from the DMK, 58 from the AIADMK, 14 from the Congress, three from the Pattali Makkal Katchi, three from the BJP, two from the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi and one from the CPI.

According to ADR, 46 per cent of candidates -- 103 of the 224 whose affidavits were analysed -- have assets of more than Rs 5 crore and above. Interestingly, in this elections there are two candidates with assets less than Rs 10 lakh who have won.

The average assets per winning candidates for 125 DMK winning candidates, whose affidavits were analysed, is Rs 12.96 crore while the average assets of 66 AIADMK winning candidates is Rs 11.78 crore. The average assets of 16 Congress winning candidates is Rs 16.57 crore, and those of five Pattali Makkal Katchi winning candidates is Rs 2.22 crore. The average assets of four BJP winning candidates is Rs 12.14 crore and those of four Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi winning candidates is Rs 5.05 crore.

The report also stated that 77 (34%) winning candidates have declared their educational qualification to be between 5th pass and 12th pass, while 142 (63%) winning candidates have declared having an educational qualification of graduate and above. There are five winning candidates who are diploma holders.

While analysing the wealth of 77 re-elected MLAs, the report stated that their average assets have grown by 44 percent. In the last assembly elections, these MLAs had average assets of Rs 9.58 crore and this time it has jumped to Rs 13.80 crore.