Crime and Politics are so intertwined in the Indian format that expecting a “clean politician” sounds like hyperbole in India’s Political System. Member of Parliament (MPs) with the criminal backgrounds is not a new phenomenon in India, but the influence of money in politics, the problem appears to be heading towards only worsening phase. Not even a single party is there which don’t have politicians with Criminal background or having and the criminal case against them.

The Indian Political condition is deteriorating so much that, not only the Politicians are heading towards the crime but also the Criminals are heading towards politics. And the irony of the system is that these Criminals are also getting the tickets of party members and even head towards to be nominated as the Member of the Parliament. However, the worse condition than this is people are even voting for them and electing these criminals as their leader.

There are numerous Criminals or we Don/Mafia turned into Politicians have been surviving in politics from last many decades. We don’t need to go far, let’s take the example of Uttar Pradesh, which has a huge list of politicians who were the don or the mafia in their past and continuing this too. The former mafia don Mukhtar Ansari has been elected to the state assembly for 5 times despite having more than 40 criminal cases pending against him, including murder case as well. Another don-turned-politician, Hari Shankar Tiwari, is also from Uttar Pradesh, has been a member of the legislative assembly from last 23 years. He even won the election while being detained on murder charges. 

According to the report released in April 2019, by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), a Non-Profit organization which works on electoral and political reform. The organization mentioned that a total of 1,580 Members of Parliament (MPs) and Member of Legislative Assemblies (MLAs), or approximately 33 percent of the legislators in India’s Parliament and state assemblies, have criminal cases pending against them. These cases include all types of crimes including the murder charges as well.

However, these analysis are totally based on the affidavits voluntarily submitted by these politicians. Not only this the high-profile legacy leaders are even having the crimes against them and they are roaming freely on bail, just because they have the power to manipulate the proofs and mold the laws and conditions in their favor. With this respect, I’m talking about the so called respected and the top leaders of Congress Party, the mother-son duo, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. Both are roaming out on bail, just because they are the leaders of the Congress Party.

Apart from that, the Congress party leads in this reference too, that the party having the majority of contribution in having the leaders with Criminal backgrounds or having any legal or criminal case against them. The condition is so serious that the candidates with the criminal background were almost twice more likely to win than a candidate with no criminal background. The winning chances of a candidate with criminal background were 13%, while those of a candidate with no criminal background was 5%. 

It is high time when not only the political parties but also the voters need to take a step forward in order to maintain the decent balance between the politics, public, and criminals. All three are not same and they can’t be same. The Criminal needs to be punished, Public need to be aware, responsible, and attentive towards selecting their representatives, and the Politicians and the Political Parties need to understand their responsibility and duties towards the public and the future of the country.