The strongest impact of the Supreme Court ruling on MPs, MLAs facing conviction in criminal cases will be felt in Uttar Pradesh where 189 legislators out of the 403, are facing criminal cases.
This means that nearly 47 per cent of the elected representatives in the state Assembly could lose their membership, if and when convicted. Of these, 98 legislators are facing serious charges of murder and rape.
The leaders of the two biggest parties in Uttar Pradesh — Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati — are already facing charges of having assets disproportionate to their declared sources of income. Their cases are pending with the CBI. Incidentally, the ruling Samajwadi Party, with 224 legislators in the state Assembly, also has the maximum number of 111 members who are involved in criminal cases.
SP MLA from Faizabad Mitrasen Yadav holds a record of sorts with 36 criminal cases against him.
“Cases against the rest of the SP MLAs are in various stages in court and the impact will be felt, as and when the verdict begins to be announced in these cases,” said a former official of the state Assembly.
The SP MPs involved in criminal cases include Bal Kumar Patel (Mirzapur) who has 14 criminal cases against him. Ram Kishun (Chandauli) has five criminal cases, Brijbhushan Sharan Singh (Kaiserganj) has four criminal cases, Rakesh Sachan (Fatehpur) and Premdas Katehria (Etawah) have two cases each while Ghanshyam Anuragi (Jalaun) and R.K. Singh Patel (Banda) have one case each.
The BSP is another party with 29 elected representatives facing serious criminal charges. Among the BSP MPs who will find the proverbial “sword of Damocles” hanging over their heads are Qadir Rana with 14 criminals cases, Rakesh Pandey, Dara Singh Chauhan and Surendra Nagar with two cases each and Dhananjay Singh who has one case against him. The BJP is not too far behind with 25 tainted MPs and MLAs in the party while the Congress finishes fourth with 13 tainted leaders.