As many as 12 MLAs in the newly elected 90-member State Assembly have criminal cases against them and, interestingly, all of them won against a runner-up with a clean background, a report said on Friday.
The report released by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Haryana Election Watch (HEW) based on an analysis of the vote share in the State’s 90 constituencies, pointed out that among the 12 MLAs with a criminal record, three had a victory margin of more than 20%. The report added that among these MLAs, former Chief Minister and Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda from Garhi Sampla–Kiloi constituency won by a margin of 39.25%.
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The report said there were 11 MLAs with a clean background who won against a runner-up with declared criminal cases. Of these 11, only two won by a margin of 10%.
The report said that in 2019, the MLAs won by an average of 43.55% of total votes polled. In the 2014 elections, the MLAs had won by an average of 39.84% of total votes polled.
“Nineteen MLAs won with 50% and above of the total votes polled in their constituency. 71 MLAs won with less than 50% of the total votes polled in their constituency. Three out of 12 MLAs analysed with declared criminal cases have won with a vote share of 50% and above. 19 out of 84 ‘crorepati’ MLAs analysed have won with a vote share of 50% and above,” said the report.
According to the report, three MLAs won by a margin of less than 1,000 votes while four won by a margin of over 30%.
On the performance of women MLAs, the report said Kiran Chaudhary of the Congress (Tosham constituency) won with the highest vote share of 49.72%.
The report added that out of total 29 re-elected MLAs, six won with more than 50% of vote share. As far as NOTA was concerned, out of 1,25,20,177 votes polled, as many as 65,672 (0.52%) were for NOTA. In 2014, out of 1,24,26,968 votes polled, 53,613 (0.43%) were for NOTA, said the report.
