17 out of 90 newly elected Chhattisgarh MLAs have criminal cases: Report

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• Dec 6, 2023 | Dhupali Das

As many as 17 of the 90 MLAs in the newly elected Chhattisgarh assembly have declared criminal cases against... 

Digital Desk: As many as 17 of the 90 MLAs in the newly elected Chhattisgarh assembly have declared criminal cases against themselves, with six facing serious allegations such as voluntarily causing hurt and criminal intimidation.

The BJP won 54 seats in the Chhattisgarh assembly elections. The Congress, which had won 68 seats in the state in 2018, was reduced to 35 seats, while the Gondwana Gantantra Party (GGP) got one.

The Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J), formed by late chief minister Ajit Jogi, and the Bahujan Samaj Party both failed to open accounts this time.

According to a report by the non-profits Chhattisgarh Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), 17 (about 19%) of the 90 newly elected MLAs have declared criminal cases against themselves in their poll affidavits.

Six (7%) of them have declared major criminal cases against themselves, according to the report.

Twelve (22%) of the BJP's 54 MLAs and five (14%) of the Congress' 35 MLAs have declared criminal charges against themselves.

Similarly, the BJP has four (7%) MLAs, and the Congress has two (6%) legislators who have proclaimed severe criminal cases against themselves.

According to the report, outgoing Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel (Patan seat), Devendra Yadav (Bhilai Nagar seat), and Atal Shrivastav (Kota seat) are among the Congress winners facing criminal charges.

Similarly, former ministers Rajesh Munat (Raipur City West) and Dayaldas Baghel (Navagarh), Shakuntala Singh Portey (Pratappur), Uddheshwari Paikra (Samri), OP Choudhary (Raigarh) Vijay Sharma (Kawardha seat), Vinayak Goyal (Chitrakot-ST) and Asharam Netam (Kanker-ST) are among the newly elected MLAs from BJP who face criminal cases as per the report.

In 2018, the report said that 24 (27%) of the 90 elected MLAs declared criminal proceedings against themselves, with 13 (14%) facing serious charges.