67 MLAs have criminal antecedents in Odisha

Bhubaneswar: About 46 per cent of the newly elected MLAs in Odisha face criminal cases, said a report prepared by Odisha Election Watch (OEW) and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

It said as many as 67 of the 146 members of the Odisha Assembly have declared criminal cases in their affidavits.

49 (34 per cent) of the MLAs have serious criminal cases like murder, attempt to murder and kidnapping against them, the report said.

Of the MLAs with serious criminal cases, two have cases related to murder and 11 have declared attempt to murder cases against them.

BJD has most MLAs in terms of parties having legislators with criminal antecedents.

46(41%) out of 112 MLAs from BJD, 14 (61%) out of 23 MLAs from BJP and 6 (67%) out of 9 MLAs from Congress have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

The report said that 33(30%) MLAs from BJD, 10 (44%) from BJP and 5 from Congress have serious criminal cases against themselves, the report said.