How Many Indian MPs Have Criminal Cases? The 2026 Data Will Shock You

In June 2024, the newly elected 18th Lok Sabha was sworn in. Four of its members had declared murder cases against themselves in their own affidavits. Twenty-seven had declared convictions. Two had declared rape charges under Section 376 IPC. They walked into Parliament House anyway — legally, constitutionally, with full democratic mandate. The Election Commission verified their paperwork. Their parties gave them tickets. Their constituencies gave them votes.

This is not a breakdown of India’s democracy. It is India’s democracy. And the 2026 ADR data makes it impossible to look away anymore.

The Headline Number — 46% and Rising

Here is the core fact that every Indian voter should know: 251 out of 543 Lok Sabha MPs — 46% — have declared criminal cases against themselves. This is the highest figure ever recorded. It is not an allegation, not a media estimate, not a political attack. These are self-declared cases, submitted by the MPs themselves in sworn affidavits to the Election Commission of India before the 2024 general election.

Most people get this wrong — they assume “criminal cases” means minor traffic violations or politically motivated FIRs. Some of them are. But 170 MPs (31%) face serious criminal charges — including rape, murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, and crimes against women. That number has more than doubled since 2009, when it stood at 14%.

The trend line is the most damning part. In 2004, 23% of MPs had declared cases. In 2009, 30%. In 2014, 34%. In 2019, 43%. In 2024, 46%. In twenty years, the proportion of MPs with criminal cases has nearly doubled. Every election, the number goes up. Not once has it gone down.

The Rajya Sabha Data — March 2026 Report

In my experience covering Indian politics, the Rajya Sabha data released in March 2026 was the more shocking of the two reports — precisely because it was ignored. While everyone focused on Lok Sabha, ADR quietly released an analysis of India’s Upper House that revealed 73 out of 229 Rajya Sabha MPs (32%) have declared criminal cases.

Of those 73, 36 face serious charges — 16% of the entire chamber. One MP has declared a case of murder. Four have declared cases of attempt to murder. Three have declared cases related to crimes against women. One MP has declared an extraordinary 36 serious cases against himself. Thirty-six. In his own affidavit.

The party-wise breakdown cuts across all political lines. BJP leads in absolute numbers with 27 of its 99 Rajya Sabha MPs declaring cases. Congress follows with 12 of its 28 MPs. AAP has 4 of 10. TMC has 4 of 13. CPI(M) and BRS each have 3. The problem is not concentrated in one party. It is distributed across the entire political spectrum — which is precisely what makes it structural rather than partisan.

Why Do Candidates with Criminal Cases Keep Winning?

This is the question that actually matters, and the answer is uncomfortable. The winning chances for a candidate with declared criminal cases in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections stood at 15.3% — compared to just 4.4% for candidates with a clean background. Criminals are three and a half times more likely to win than clean candidates. That is not a flaw in the system. That is the system working exactly as currently designed.

What the headlines miss is the reason why. Candidates with criminal records typically also have more money, more local muscle, and stronger name recognition — because in many constituencies, the act of committing or being accused of crimes makes you feared and therefore powerful. Voters in areas with weak state infrastructure often prefer a locally powerful MP — even a compromised one — over a clean outsider who can’t get roads built or disputes settled.

Industry insiders — specifically, senior election analysts who have studied voting patterns — point to three structural reasons this keeps happening. First, the Representation of the People Act 1951 only disqualifies candidates after conviction, not after charges are filed. Since Indian trials take years or decades, a candidate can contest multiple elections with serious cases pending indefinitely. Second, parties calculate “winnability” over integrity — and criminals with local networks win. Third, voters prioritise caste, religion, and local development over criminal records when they trust no candidate to be clean.

State by State — Where It’s Worst

The state-level data is where the crisis becomes impossible to abstract away. Telangana has the highest share of MPs with serious criminal cases at 71% — meaning nearly three-quarters of the state’s Parliament representatives have declared serious charges. Bihar comes second at 48%. Uttar Pradesh records the highest absolute number — 34 MPs with serious cases.

For MLAs, the picture is even worse. Andhra Pradesh leads with 56% of its MLAs declaring serious criminal cases. Telangana follows at 50%. Uttar Pradesh again tops in absolute numbers — 154 MLAs, or 38% of all UP legislators, face serious charges. These are not marginal cases. These are the people making laws in the states where 500 million Indians live.

3 Things Most Articles Get Wrong About MPs and Criminal Cases

1. The Supreme Court’s 2020 order has been almost completely ignored. On February 13, 2020, the Supreme Court directed all political parties to publish reasons for fielding candidates with criminal backgrounds — specifically requiring them to justify why clean candidates were not available. ADR’s 2026 analysis of Kerala Assembly candidates found that parties gave “reasons” like “popularity of the person” and “does good social work.” These reasons directly contradict the Supreme Court’s explicit instruction that such justifications must be based on “qualifications, achievements and merit.” No party has faced any consequence for non-compliance in six years.

2. Self-declaration is the only enforcement mechanism — and it creates a massive undercount. These statistics come entirely from what MPs themselves voluntarily declare in their affidavits. There is no independent verification. No cross-checking with police records. No automatic disclosure requirement. MPs with cases they haven’t been formally charged with, or cases filed in jurisdictions they haven’t tracked, may simply not declare them. The 46% figure is almost certainly a floor, not a ceiling.

3. The wealth data is equally alarming — and almost nobody covers it together with the crime data. The same ADR March 2026 report that revealed 32% of Rajya Sabha MPs have criminal cases also found that 93% of Lok Sabha MPs are crorepatis, the average Rajya Sabha MP’s declared assets are ₹120.69 crore, and one Rajya Sabha MP has declared assets of over ₹5,300 crore. Money and criminal records travel together in Indian politics. The correlation is not coincidental — it is structural.

For a detailed look at how criminal networks and elected office have intersected historically in India, read our full analysis of Top 5 Gangsters Who Became Politicians in India.”

FAQ — What People Are Actually Searching

How many Indian MPs have criminal cases in 2026?

As of 2026, 251 out of 543 Lok Sabha MPs (46%) have declared criminal cases in their affidavits — the highest ever recorded. Additionally, the ADR’s March 2026 report found that 73 out of 229 Rajya Sabha MPs (32%) have declared criminal cases. Combined across both Houses, over 320 sitting Indian MPs have declared pending criminal cases against themselves.

Which party has the most MPs with criminal cases in India?

In absolute numbers, BJP leads with 94 Lok Sabha MPs and 27 Rajya Sabha MPs having declared criminal cases. In percentage terms within the Lok Sabha, Congress has the highest rate with 49% of its winning MPs declaring cases. However, it is important to note that this is a cross-party problem — every major party including TMC, JDU, DMK, AAP, and SP has significant numbers of MPs with declared criminal cases.

Which Indian state has the most MPs with criminal cases?

Telangana has the highest percentage of MPs with serious criminal cases at 71% — making it the state where nearly three-quarters of Parliament members have declared serious charges. Bihar comes second at 48%. In absolute numbers, Uttar Pradesh leads with 34 MPs facing serious criminal cases, and 154 MLAs — 38% of all UP legislators — with serious charges declared.

Can a person with criminal cases become an MP in India?

Yes — under current law. The Representation of the People Act 1951 only disqualifies a candidate from contesting elections after they are convicted and sentenced to at least two years in prison. Being charged with even the most serious crimes does not legally bar a person from contesting or holding elected office. This is why MPs with murder, rape, and attempted murder cases sit in Parliament — they have not yet been convicted, regardless of how long their trials have been running.

What does ADR do and how reliable is its data?

The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) is an independent, non-partisan research organisation that analyses data from candidate affidavits submitted to the Election Commission of India. All candidates are legally required to submit self-declared affidavits disclosing criminal cases, assets, and liabilities. ADR collects, analyses, and publishes this data publicly at adrindia.org and myneta.info. The data is not independently verified — it reflects exactly what candidates themselves declare — making it a legal disclosure, not an investigative finding.