New Delhi, April 19: The BJP leads recognised political parties with the highest number of 12 lawmakers at the central and state levels who have declared cases of crime against women against them, followed by Shiv Sena and TMC, Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) said on Thursday.
After the Bharatiya Janata Party comes Shiv Sena with seven such MPs/MLAs, and Trinamool Congress with six," the ADR said in a report.
All major political parties give tickets to candidates with cases of crime against women, especially rape, and therefore hinder the safety and dignity of women as citizens, said ADR, which along with the National Election Watch analysed the election affidavits of current MPs and MLAs.
"These are serious cases wherein charges have been framed and cognisance taken by courts. Hence, political parties have been, in a way, abetting to circumstances that lead to such events that they so easily but vehemently condemn in Parliament," the report added.
Out of 1,580 MPs/MLAs whose particulars were analysed for declared criminal cases (33 per cent of the total), 48 lawmakers -- 45 MLAs and three MPs -- have declared cases of crime against women.
Among the states, Maharashtra has the highest number of 12 such MPs/MLAs, followed by West Bengal (11), Odisha and Andhra Pradesh (5 each), said the Delhi-based think tank.
Recognised political parties gave tickets to 327 candidates who declared cases related to crime against women. Of these, 40 were given tickets by parties for Parliamentary elections.
Various recognised parties gave tickets to 287 such candidates for Assembly polls.
In five years, 118 such independent candidates also contested the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha polls as well as Assembly elections.
Three MLAs with cases related to rape against them are Gonuguntla Suryanarayana of Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh, Jethabhai G. Ahir of Bharatiya Janata Party in Gujarat and Gulab Yadav of Rashtriya Janata Dal in Bihar.
The ADR and NEW demanded that candidates with criminal background should be debarred from contesting elections, political parties should disclose criteria for selecting candidates and that cases pending against MPs and MLAs should be fast-tracked.
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New application filed in SC against Adani group over US indictment
New Delhi: A fresh application has been submitted to the Supreme Court of India, seeking the inclusion of key documents related to the recent US indictment of the Adani Group. Filed by advocate Vishal Tiwari, the petition aims to introduce two critical pieces of evidence into an ongoing case related to the Adani Group's financial practices.
The first document is a formal US court indictment accusing Gautam Adani, his relative Sagar Adani, and other company executives of orchestrating a massive bribery scheme to secure solar energy contracts worth billions of dollars in India. The indictment alleges that over $250 million in bribes were paid to Indian government officials to obtain these lucrative contracts.
The second document is a complaint from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which accuses the Adani Group of securities fraud. The SEC alleges that Adani executives misled investors to raise funds for these solar projects, despite knowing that part of the capital was linked to corrupt activities.
This development follows the US Attorney's Office's recent charges against the Adani executives, who are accused of masterminding a bribery scheme to secure power supply contracts with state-run utilities in India. The contracts were expected to yield up to $2 billion in profits over two decades.
These charges come amid an ongoing investigation by India's Securities and Exchange Board (SEBI) into the Adani Group, after allegations of stock manipulation and market irregularities surfaced, particularly following the release of the Hindenburg Report in early 2023. The new US legal documents could play a crucial role in strengthening the investigation into the Adani Group's business operations.
