Hyderabad: Sixty-seven legislators who were declared elected on Tuesday have a ‘criminal’ record.
Because of its large tally, the highest number of such MLAs comes from the TRS at 44. The Prajakutami has 16 legislators with a record, the MIM said and the lone BJP MLA, T. Raja Singh.
Out of 119 legislators, who have been elected, 67 legislators or 56.3 per cent have cases against them.Some of the cases are related to issues like rasta roko and rail roko especially during the statehood agitation while the rest are serious in nature. Earlier, the government withdrew many cases against political bigwigs.
If the trend continues the day is not far off when the Assembly will be full of people having cases against them. There is a need for voters to introspect, said Mr M. Padmanabha Reddy, a retired IRS officer.
It was also alleged that few candidates stuck to the Supreme Court order of publishing their criminal record. The apex court had stated in September that the candidate as well as the political party shall issue three declarations in widely circulated newspapers in the locality about the antecedents of the candidates and also give wide publicity in the electronic media.
