In a startling revelation, a non-governmental organization has exposed that 83 MLAs (Members of Legislative Assembly), including one nominated member, out of 295 have cases registered against them. Ironically, 54 of these elected representatives were booked in criminal cases. Similarly, of the 60 MPs (Members of Parliament) from the state, 14 lawmakers were booked for various offences. Among the 90 MLCs, eight have cases against them.
In the wake of the recent Supreme Court order barring convicted politicians from contesting elections, the NGO Forum for Good Governance (FGG) has written to police bosses asking them to complete investigations into the cases registered against the legislators so that the guilty among them would not be able to run for the upcoming elections.
The forum had filed RTI applications with district superintendents of police (SPs) and commissioners asking for details of cases registered against legislators. By March 2013, they were able to extract details related to the cases.
As per the information obtained by the FGG, eight ministers, both the Union and state, including Union tourism minister Konidela Siva Sankara Vara Prasad alias Chiranjeevi, have cases registered against their name. Three cases were registered against Chiranjeevi at Nandyala I Town, Bandi Atmakur and Koilkunta police stations under Sections 143 (Unlawful assembly), 341 (Wrongfully restraining any person), 188 (Disobedience to an order lawfully promulgated by a public servant) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in 2009. All these cases are stated as ‘pending trial’.
Similarly, state minister D Sridhar Babu was booked under Sections 171-E (Bribery) and 171-F (Undue influence at an election) of the IPC at Regonda police station in 2009 and this case is also pending trial.
Labour minister Danam Nagender has three criminal cases registered against him at Banjara Hills and Tukaramgate police stations since 2011 and all the cases are ‘under investigation’. Ministers Uttam Kumar Reddy, Balaraju, Ganta Srinivasa Rao, Vatti Vasanta Kumar and Ramachandraiah were booked for various offences.
Among the 83 erring MLAs, Akbaruddin Owaisi (Chandrayangutta), T Harish Rao (Siddipet) and Chintamaneni Prabhakar (Denduluru) have over 10 cases each registered against their names. Incidentally, six of the seven MIM MLAs and three of the four BJP MLAs have cases registered against them.
Party wise, TDP takes the top position with 28 of its MLAs having criminal record followed by the ruling Congress (26) and TRS (14).
According to FGG, Kadapa MP YS Jaganmohan Reddy has two cases (excluding the cases booked by the CBI) booked against him, while Mahbubnagar MP and TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao has seven cases and AIMIM supremo Asaduddin Owaisi has over 10 cases registered against them at various police stations in the state.
Citing the apex court order, the representatives of FGG have written to the director-general of police (DGP), district SPs and commissioners asking them to expedite investigation in cases registered against the legislators so that the convicted would not be able to run for the 2014 elections. “So far, we have not received any response from police officers,” FGG secretary M Padmanabha Reddy, a former top police officer, told INN.
FGG representatives expressed apprehensions over investigation in the cases booked against the legislators as majority of these cases were being shown as ‘under investigation’. “In a recent survey conducted by us across the state about the 2009 general elections-related cases has revealed that 2,400 cases were booked, but not even in a single case the accused were proven guilty. All the cases were either stated as pending trial, lack of evidence, compromised by parties or disposed of with petty fines,” said Padmanabha Reddy.
