The More Things Change

It is said ,

"  The more things change , the more they remain the same  "

If in doubt , take a look at the following analysis , carried out by ADR ( Association for Democratic Reforms ) ,

In Current Lok Sabha :

>  MPs facing criminal charges.............. 162 ( out of 542 ) = 30 %

>  MPs facing SERIOUS charges.............  76  ..............     =  14 %

>  MPs whose cases are pending for 10+ years..................      45 MPs

>  MPs whose cases are pending for 20+ years ..................       7 MPs

Does that deter our political parties from giving tickets to candidates with past Criminal records  ?

You would be naive if you believed all those lofty announcements made by our political leaders - led by Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi - that this time around ,

" No one with past criminal record will be given a ticket "

In the first lists of 301 candidates announced for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections , by various political parties , ADR analyzed the  affidavits filed by 188 candidates

And found 56 candidates to have Criminal records  !  56 out of 188  !

Same  30  %  !

Wait till ,

>  final lists of all parties are out in the next 3/4 days

>  ADR find time to analyze (approx ) 8,000 affidavits

>  May 16th - when 542 winners are announced

Once again you will find that 30 % of the " Winners " have criminal cases pending against them  !

Our only hope is Supreme Court directive ( to the lower courts ) that such trials must be completed within ONE year and those found guilty must be disqualified from Lok Sabha / State Legislative Assemblies

It is another matter that Salman Khurshid thinks that our Judiciary has become hyper-active and started taking decisions that rightfully belong to the Legislative wing and the Administrative wing

Agree , this is not an ideal situation

But ,

when the other two wings of the Government simply STOP taking decisions or START / CONTINUE , taking " corrupt / tainted / dishonest " decisions , then someone has to step in !

Long live Supreme Court  !

*  hemen  parekh  (  23  March  2014  /  Mumbai )