`3 Cong MPs facing criminal charges

The AP unit of the National Election Watch Committee on Monday claimed that three Congress candidates for the Lok Sabha have criminal
charges pending against them.

Addressing a press conference on Monday, the watchdog committee members identified the three as Sarve Satyanarayana, G V Harsha Kumar and D Vittal Rao. All the three happen to be sitting MPs. The fact came to light after the panel filed applications under the RTI Act with the concerned police authorities in the state, the members said. The three MPs are contesting from the Malkajgiri, Amalapuram and Mahbubnagar constituencies respectively.

Releasing the data, the committee pointed out that of the 135 sitting MLAs who have got Congress tickets, 20 are facing serious criminal charges. The charges range from criminal conspiracy, cheating and forgery to assaulting a public servant on duty.

Many of these political leaders are also believed to be facing criminal charges relating to poll code violation. Chief minister Y S Rajasekhera Reddy’s name features on this list along with many other Congress leaders.

The panel said it would release a similar list of candidates from other parties after the final lists are out.

As per the list, 10 of the 60 sitting MPs from the state and 60 of the 294 MLAs have various criminal charges pending against them. They include MIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, who is contesting again from the Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat, and PRP member T Devender Goud, who is expected to contest for an Assembly seat. TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu’s name also shows up on the list with leaders facing criminal charges relating to poll code violation.

Appealing to the citizens to vote “intelligently”, members of the election watch committee said the data was compiled to, “publicly demand that political parties do not field candidates against whom criminal charges have been filed.”