24 MLAs in newly-elected Chhattisgarh Assembly are facing criminal cases; charges include assault, intimidation

Raipur: As many as 24 of the 90 MLAs in the newly-elected Chhattisgarh Assembly have declared that they are facing criminal cases. Thirteen of them are facing serious charges including assault and criminal intimidation, a report prepared by two NGOs said. [caption id=“attachment_5595131” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AFP[/caption] The Congress registered a landslide victory in the state in the recently concluded polls by winning 68 of the 90 seats. The BJP, in power since 2003, was reduced to 15 seats. As per the report issued by Chhattisgarh Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), of the 90 newly-elected MLAs, 24 (27 percent) have declared in their election affidavits that they are facing criminal cases. Thirteen of them are facing serious criminal cases. Overall, nineteen MLAs of the Congress and three legislators of the BJP are facing criminal cases, while two of the five JCC candidates are involved in criminal cases. As per the report, Congress’ Ashish Kumar Chhabra, elected from Bemetara, has declared that he is facing a case related to attempt to murder. State Congress chief Bhupesh Baghel, who has won from Patan, has declared that he is facing charges of voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty (IPC section 332), and criminal conspiracy (IPC section 120 B), among others. The JCC(J)’s Pramod Kumar Sharma, elected from Balodabazar seat, has declared a case related to ‘causing death by negligence’ (IPC section 304A). In the previous Assembly, 15 (17 percent) of the MLAs had declared that they were facing criminal cases.