28% sitting women lawmakers face criminal cases, 17 billionaire MPs, MLAs: ADR

New Delhi: There are 17 women MPs and MLAs across the country who have declared themselves billionaires while 28 per cent have declared criminal cases against themselves, according to an analysis by poll rights body ADR.

The 17 billionaire MPs and MLAs include six of the 75 women MPs in Lok Sabha, three of 37 in Rajya Sabha and eight out of 400 women MLAs from state and Union territory assemblies.

Based on affidavits submitted by 512 out of the 513 current women MPs and MLAs, the report said 143 - or 28 per cent - have declared criminal cases against themselves.

This includes 24 (32 per cent) out of 75 Lok Sabha women MPs, 10 (27 per cent) out of 37 Rajya Sabha women MPs and 109 (27 per cent) out of 400 women MLAs (all state assemblies /Union territory) analysed have declared criminal cases against themselves.

Also, 78 women lawmakers (15 per cent) are facing serious criminal charges, such as attempt to murder and even murder, the report said.

This includes 14 (19 per cent) out of 75 Lok Sabha women MPs, 7 (19 per cent) out of 37 Rajya Sabha women MPs and 57 (14 per cent) out of 400 women MLAs (all state assemblies /Union territory) analysed have declared serious criminal cases against themselves.

Certain states show a particularly high proportion of women lawmakers with criminal records.

According to the report, two (67 per cent) out of 3 women MPs/MLAs from Goa, 8 (67 per cent) out of 12 women MPs/MLAs from Telangana, 14 (58 per cent) out of 24 women MPs/MLAs from Andhra Pradesh, 7 (50 per cent) out of 14 women MPs/MLAs from Punjab, 7(50 per cent) out of 14 women MPs/MLAs from Kerala and 15 (43 per cent) out of 35 women MPs/MLAs from Bihar have declared criminal cases against themselves in their self-sworn affidavits.

The report further said that five (42 per cent) out of 12 women MPs/MLAs from Telangana, 9 (38 per cent) out of 24 women MPs/MLAs from Andhra Pradesh, 1 (33 per cent) out of 3 women MPs/MLAs from Goa, 9 (26 per cent) out of 35 women MPs/MLAs from Bihar, 1(25 per cent) out of 4 women MPs/MLAs from Meghalaya, 3 (21 per cent) out of 14 women MPs/MLAs from Punjab and 3 (21 per cent) out of 14 women MPs/MLAs from Kerala have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their self-sworn affidavits.

Party-wise, the BJP has the highest number of women lawmakers overall (217), 23 per cent of whom have criminal cases and 11 per cent face serious charges. The Congress has a higher proportion, with 34 per cent of its 83 women legislators facing criminal cases and 20 per cent facing serious charges.

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) shows 65 per cent of its 20 women lawmakers with criminal cases, and 45 per cent with serious ones.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) also has 69 per cent of its 13 women legislators with criminal cases, and 31 per cent with serious charges.

In terms of financial background, the total declared assets of all 512 women MPs and MLAs are Rs 10,417 crore, with an average of Rs 20.34 crore per lawmaker, the Association of Democratic Reforms and National Election Watch (NEW) said.

Andhra Pradesh has the highest number of richest women legislators at 24 who declared average assets of Rs 74.22 crore.

This is closely followed by Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, where the sole woman lawmaker has assets worth Rs 71.44 crore, and Haryana, where the average among 15 women legislators stands at Rs 63.72 crore.

While Assam, Mizoram, and Manipur are at the bottom of the list, with women lawmakers in these states averaging just Rs 2.18 crore, Rs 2.20 crore, and Rs 2.84 crore in assets respectively, the ADR said.

The report also delved into the educational qualifications of women lawmakers, showing that a majority - 71 per cent - are graduates or hold higher degrees.

About 24 per cent have studied between class 5 and 12, while 12 women legislators are diploma holders. Another 12 have identified themselves as merely literate.

In terms of age distribution, most sitting women MPs and MLAs (64 per cent) are between 41 and 60 years old, while 22 per cent fall in the youth category of 25 to 40 years.

The remaining 14 per cent are between 61 and 80 years of age and the average age of women legislators is 49 years, which is younger than the overall average age of members in the Lok Sabha (55.6 years) and Rajya Sabha (63 years), but older than the national average of 27.8 years, the report said.

The 18th Lok Sabha has 74 women MPs (13.6 per cent) Which is lower than the 78 women MPs in the 17th Lok Sabha (14.4 per cent). The BJP has the highest number of women MPs, with 31 members, followed by INC with 13 women MPs and TMC with 11 women MPs.

Kriti Devi Debbarman (BJP) from Tripura East constituency in Tripura has won with the highest vote share, i.e. 68.54 per cent in her constituency while Shobha Karandlaje (BJP) from Bangalore North constituency in Karnataka has won with the highest number of votes, i.e. 9,86,049 in her constituency.

There are 22 states and Union territories have women MPs in the 18th Lok Sabha. The only large state without a women MP is Kerala.

Higher share of women candidates won the elections than male candidates. 74 out of 800 women candidates won the elections (9.3 per cent). whereas amongst 7554 male candidates, 469 were elected (6.2 per cent).

West Bengal has the maximum number of women MPs 11, followed by Uttar Pradesh 7, Maharashtra 7 and Madhya Pradesh 6.