49 newly-elected MCD councillors face criminal charges

New Delhi, April 19 (IANS) At least 49 newly-elected councillors in the recent Delhi civic polls face criminal charges which include murder, kidnapping and extortion, a report said Thursday.

Of the 272 newly-elected councillors, the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) -- a non-profit, apolitical group working in the field of electoral reforms -- has analysed affidavits of 236. Out of these, 49 have criminal cases pending against them.

Apart from criminal charges, the councillors also boast of money power. Out of the 236 councillors, 120 or 51 percent are crorepatis.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi, which was one of the largest civic bodies of the world, was recently trifurcated. Of the three newly created corporations, BJP swept East and North and emerged the single largest party in the South in polls held April 15.

"We have analysed affidavits of 236 councillors out of the 272, the rest 36 affidavits are yet to be received from the State Election Commission," Anil Bairwal, national co-ordinator of ADR, told IANS.

According to the figures, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) comes first in the list with 29 of its councillors facing criminal charges out of 121 elected, followed by Indian National Congress (INC) with 14 councillors out of 66. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has two councillors out of 14 while Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) has one councillor out of three.

The analysis further says that out of the 49 newly-elected councillors with declared criminal cases, 12 face serious criminal cases like murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, robbery and extortion. BJP has five, INC has four and BSP has one.

Shoeb Danish of Congress from ward number 205, Zakir Nagar in west Delhi has four cases pending against him, including two charges related to attempt to murder. Meghraj Chandela, another elected councillor from ward number 107, Vishnu Garden in west Delhi, has two cases, which include a charge related to attempt to murder.

"Satvinder Kaur Sirsa, representing BJP from ward number 103, Punjabi Bagh in west Delhi is the richest with assets worth Rs.112 crore. She is followed by Naresh Balyan, an independent from ward number 126, Nawada in west Delhi with assets worth Rs.57.23 crore and Manju Setia, Congress councillor from ward number 112 - Subhash Nagar in west Delhi with assets worth Rs.32.79 crore," the statement said.

Among the 236 councillors, 62 councillors have declared that they have never filed their income tax returns, the reports said.