Criminalization of politics unlikely to end: ADR founder

One of the founding members of Association for Democratic Reforms, Jagdeep Chokar stated that Indian politics suffered due to criminalisation at both national and state level. He went on to say that use of black money in elections is closely linked to the issue of criminalisation.

New Delhi: As the nation is heading towards 2019 Lok Sabha elections, 'criminalization of politics' is still a threat to Indian democracy, says the founding member of Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

Jagdeep Chokar, founder of ADR, spoke to ETV Bharat over the issue and explained, "The problem of criminalization of Indian politics is very serious.Thirty percent of people sitting in the Parliament or in state assemblies are criminals. Those who break laws are making the laws sitting in the parliament. This issue needs to be attended very seriously by all the concerned persons."

ADR did a survey in which it was found that from 21 cabinet ministers, 20 (31%) ministers were having criminal cases against them and 11 (17%) ministers with charged for serious crimes.

If Supreme Court to be quoted, "Criminalization of politics strikes at the very root of democracy by making the citizenry suffer at the hand of those who are nothing but a liability to the country."

Projecting a grim picture of the extent of criminalization of politics, Centre informed the Supreme Court, in the past year that 36 percent of Parliamentarians and state assembly members are facing trails of criminal charges against them.

In order to raise voter's awareness, Election Commission has made it mandatory that all the candidates of 2019 Lok Sabha elections, with criminal antecedents will have to publish their criminal records in newspapers and television channels at least three times during the election campaign.

According to reports by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), 185 winning candidates in the 2014 general elections had criminal cases against them compared to 162 in the 2009 polls.

Similarly, in 2009, 24 percent of the winners had serious criminal cases, such as murder, attempt to murder, communal disharmony, kidnapping, tape charges against them.

Over the deteriorating situation Chokar said that black money plays a vital role in this issue.

"The reason behind the deteriorating situation is that the political parties are irresponsible. It seems they are captive of criminal elements in society because these political parties give tickets to such people. The issue of criminalization of politics is also very closely linked to black money. Black money is being used in the electoral campaign and in political campaigns and black money comes from the criminal sources."

"Not a single political party is free from this problem. Whether a party has 100 percent MPs or MLAs who've criminal cases pending against them or the a party has 2 percent, it is equally bad. We must not have any member of Parliament or any member of State Assembly who is undergoing trial for criminal charges," he added.

He opined that the only solution to this problem is to force political parties which can be done through public opinion, judiciary, or media which can help in spreading this information amongst the public.

"Unless there is a sustained and strong pressure on all political parties, these will be exempted on the idea of winnability," he added.