The National Election Watch (NEW) and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) have written a letter to the PM designate, Narendra Modi, bringing to his notice the disturbing fact that the newly formed 16th Lok Sabha has a sizeable number of MPs (112, i.e. 21%) facing serious criminal charges and requesting him to include only clean representatives in his cabinet.

The steady increase in the number of MPs facing criminal charges over the years is a matter of grave concern to the country. While in Lok Sabha 2004, the number of MPs facing criminal charges was 24%, in Lok Sabha 2009 it had increased to 30%, and in the newly elected Lok Sabha 2014, the number has reached the mark of 34%, which is 186 MPs.
 
In BJP alone, 98 (35%) out of 281 MPs analysed by NEW & ADR have self-declared criminal cases, while 63 (22%) have self-declared serious criminal cases like murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, dacoity etc.
 
Given Modi’s commitment to critically examine MPs with self-declared criminal cases and fast tracking cases against them, which he reiterated during the recent Lok Sabha campaign saying, “the next parliament would be cleaned by punishing the guilty,”(Reference Links Below) civil society organizations are expecting that the 14th prime minister will provide clean and exemplary governance.
 
In the letter sent to the PM-designate (dated 20-05-15), NEW and ADR have made the following requests:

1. That MPs with serious criminal cases should not be made Ministers or given chairs of responsibilities in the Parliament such as in Standing Committees, Financial committees etc.

2. That any MP should not be assigned a portfolio in the Cabinet that poses a conflict of interest with his/her business interests.

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TEXT OF THE LETTER

May 20, 2014

To
Shri Narendra Modi (PM Designate),
Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) Headquarters,
11, Ashoka Road, New Delhi – 110001.

Subject: Appeal to provide clean and exemplary governance

Dear Shri Modi,

On behalf of the National Election Watch (NEW) and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), we would like to congratulate you on the impressive election victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party and on being appointed the new Prime Minister of India in the next few days.
NEW, a congregation of over 1200 Civil Society groups across the country, and ADR, a citizen led, nonpolitical and non?governmental organization, have been working for around 15 years with the objective of bringing electoral and political reforms, so as to improve democracy and governance in India.
Although there is no doubt that the Indian electorate voted wisely in favour of a stable and mature government, there are some concerns when we look at the criminal and financial records of certain newly elected MPs:

-- 186 (34%) out of 541 newly elected MPs analyzed by NEW & ADR have declared criminal cases against themselves, whereas 112 (21%) have declared serious criminal cases like murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, dacoity etc. (List of MPs with self?declared criminal cases attached as Appendix)

-- In BJP alone, 98 (35%) out of 281 MPs analysed have declared criminal cases, whereas
63 (22%) have declared serious criminal cases
Given your commitment to critically examine MPs and MLAs with self?declared criminal cases, which you reiterated during recent Lok Sabha campaign rallies, interviews and reports, saying “the next Parliament would be cleaned by punishing the guilty,” we expect that you would provide clean and exemplary governance. (Ref: urls/video links for the reports/speeches mentioned in the end)

In view of the above, we make the following requests:

1. That MPs with serious criminal cases not be made Ministers or given chairs of responsibilities in the Parliament such as in Standing Committees, Financial committees etc.

2. That any MP should not be assigned a portfolio in the Cabinet that poses a conflict of interest with his/her business interests.

Sir, we would also like to take this opportunity to request you for a meeting to discuss the recommendations of ADR in detail.
We wish you all the best in ensuring overall progress in the country in all spheres during the next five years.

Yours faithfully,

National Election Watch/Association for Democratic Reforms:

Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Anil Verma
Head, ADR and NEW

Prof. Trilochan Sastry
Founder Member, ADR and NEW

Prof. Jagdeep Chhokar
Founder Member, ADR and NEW

Details of Criminal Cases Declared by Winners -2-.pdf
Letter to PM.pdf
MPs who have declared Criminal Cases against themselves.pdf