Maharashtra Election 2024: As many as 60 per cent (164) MLAs in the outgoing Maharashtra Assembly have declared criminal cases against themselves. At least 39 per cent (106) MLAs have declared serious criminal cases against them.
Serious criminal cases include charges related to murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, and crimes against women, among others.
These details were revealed in the analysis by election watchdog Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Maharashtra Election Watch after analysis the criminal, financial and other background details of 272 of 288 sitting MLAs in the outgoing Maharashtra Assembly.
The 288 seats of Maharashtra are voting in single phase on November 20 to elect a new assembly.
The ADR analysis says that at least 10 MLAs have declared cases related to attempt to murder while 12 MLAs have declared cases related to crimes against women.
At least 62 of 103 MLAs from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), 25 of 40 MLAs from NCP (Ajit Pawar), 22 of 38 MLAs from Shiv Sena (Shinde) 20 of 37 MLAs from Congress, 9 of 16 MLAs from Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray), 6 of 12 MLAs from Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) and 9 of the 12 Independent MLAs have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits, the ADR analysis said.
Among the MLAs, 38 from the BJP, 14 from the NCP (Ajit Pawar), 18 from Shiv Sena (Shinde), 11 from the Congress, 7 from Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray), 3 from Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) and 7 Independent MLAs have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits, the analysis said.
The MVA, comprising the Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress, and Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar faction), is fighting against the ruling Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, BJP, and NCP's Mahayuti alliance in the November 20 polls.
Out of 272 sitting MLAs analysed , 252 (93 per cent ) are crorepatis.
98 of 103 BJP MLAS, 36 of 40 NCP (Ajit Pawar) MLAs, 35 Shiv Sena (Shinde) MLAs, 35 Congress MLAs, 15 Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray) MLAs, 11 NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) MLAs and 11 Independent MLAs have declared assets valued more than ₹1 crore.
Parag Shah, the BJP MLA from Ghatkopar East is the richest MLA with declared assets worth ₹500 crore. Shah is followed by Mangalprabhat Lodha, the BJP MLA from Malabar Hill who has declared assets worth ₹441 Crore. Sanjay Chandrakant Jagtap, the Congress MLA from Purandar seat in Pune is the third richest MLA with assets worth ₹245 Crore
