Opinion: Criminals in The Parliament is The Society's Fault

This might not come as a surprise to you, but a new study makes a correlation that says that the election of a political candidate with a criminal record is directly linked to the rise in crime across the country. 

This study came months after the 2024 General Elections, where two politicians competed and won their seats while they were in jail. The beauty of this year's election was when Prajwal Revanna ran from Hassan and was leading. However, people later found out that he had sexually assaulted multiple women of all ages.

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According to a report published by the Association of Democratic Reforms, about 40% of sitting MPs have criminal cases registered against them. That's nearly half of the Parliament. 25% have criminal cases under charges of murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping and crimes against women. To make the sense of this title very clear, The National Election Watch analysed the 695 contesting candidates for the Fifth Phase of the General Election and found that 159 of them have declared criminal cases against themselves, 122 of which have criminal cases against them. 29 candidates have cases of crimes against women.

When we say that the people in the centre run the country, looking at the numbers makes it look like criminals are there in the parliament, making bills for the 'betterment' of the country. But it's not their fault either, if a criminal gets more power, they will commit more crimes. And at the end of the day, we are the ones who put them there, just to blame them later.

There is no one party at fault, but the problem is in all parties across the country. However, we decide to ignore it and try not to reason with these politicians even when we know that they are declared criminals. India needs to come out of this mindset of not caring and believing that ‘whoever they vote it is going to the candidate who is the face of the party. The face of the party will become the PM of the country, representing and working for the country as a whole but it's the MP of your area that is going to work for you. And if they are a criminal, how will it ensure that they will do whatever they can for your benefit?

The General Elections are over, yes, but the Maharashtra State Assembly is about to commence in November. People need to start checking the candidates and their profiles. Get aware of the candidates standing in your area and make a choice wisely, because it's this choice that defines the balance of crimes and peace in your area.