SC Affidavit: 326 MPs And 14 Chief Ministers Face Criminal Cases

Over 300 sitting members of Parliament face criminal charges, while 4,192 cases against current and former lawmakers remain pending across the country as of July 2026.

Amicus curiae Vijay Hansaria filed the figures in a 96-page Supreme Court affidavit through advocate Sneha Kalita. In the Lok Sabha, 251 of 543 representatives and 75 of 233 Rajya Sabha members have declared criminal cases, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) stated. Hansaria submitted the affidavit in a long-running public interest litigation filed by Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ashwini Upadhyay that seeks speedy trials for politicians.

Trial courts decided 1,243 criminal cases against lawmakers in 2025, Hansaria said. However, authorities registered 1,050 new cases during the year.

Lawmakers Face Serious Charges

Data submitted to the apex court indicates that 170 Lok Sabha MPs face serious criminal cases, accounting for 31 per cent of the lower house. These involve offences punishable by five years or more in prison. State-wise breakdowns for serious Lok Sabha cases include 34 of 80 MPs in Uttar Pradesh, 19 of 40 in Bihar, 17 of 48 in Maharashtra, 16 of 42 in West Bengal, 11 of 21 in Kerala, 11 of 17 in Telangana and nine of 25 in Andhra Pradesh. In the upper house, 40 Rajya Sabha members face similar serious charges out of the 75 members facing prosecution.

Kerala leads the national tally for parliamentary representatives facing prosecution. Nineteen of the state's 20 Lok Sabha MPs face criminal charges, representing 95 per cent of its delegation. Telangana follows closely with 14 of its 17 MPs facing cases, which amounts to 82 per cent. Other states with high percentages include Odisha at 76 per cent, Jharkhand at 71 per cent and Tamil Nadu at 67 per cent. Hansaria based the analysis on reports from various high courts, though the Allahabad High Court had yet to provide its data.

At the state assembly level, West Bengal records the highest proportion of legislators facing serious criminal charges. The eastern state has 170 out of 292 MLAs facing such cases, representing 58 per cent. Several other states report high numbers, including Kerala at 57 per cent, Andhra Pradesh at 56 per cent, Telangana at 49 per cent, Jharkhand and Odisha at 45 per cent each, Bihar at 42 per cent and Maharashtra at 40 per cent. Uttar Pradesh accounts for the largest share of overall pending lawmaker cases in India. The state has 1,171 trials awaiting conclusion.

Chief Ministers Under Scrutiny

The amicus curiae report stated that 14 out of 28 state chief ministers in India have disclosed criminal charges. This includes several leaders facing serious statutory offences.

Telangana Chief Minister Anumula Revanth Reddy tops the list with 89 declared criminal cases. Other prominent leaders facing prosecution include West Bengal's Suvendu Adhikari with 29 cases, Karnataka's D K Shivakumar with 19 cases, Andhra Pradesh's N Chandrababu Naidu with 19 cases and Kerala's V D Satheesan with 18 cases.

The court document listed cases against several other state leaders. Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren faces five cases, Maharashtra's Devendra Fadnavis faces four and Himachal Pradesh's Sukhvinder Singh faces four. Tamil Nadu's C Joseph Vijay and Bihar's Samrat Choudhary have two declared cases each, while one case each is pending against Sikkim's P S Tamang, Punjab's Bhagwant Mann, Odisha's Mohan Charan Majhi and Rajasthan's Bhajan Lal Sharma.

Proposed Judicial Reforms

To address the backlog, Hansaria urged the Supreme Court to direct designated Special Courts to hear lawmaker cases exclusively. He suggested that principal district judges should assign standard judicial duties to these specialized courts only once the proceedings against politicians are finished.

High Courts should monitor trial progress monthly and ensure cases wrap up within one year of framing charges, Hansaria said. He also requested micro-monitoring for cases pending for more than three years.

The Supreme Court previously intervened on November 9, 2023. At that time, the apex court directed high courts to set up special benches to monitor more than 5,000 pending cases against MPs, MLAs and MLCs. The court also ordered special judges to avoid postponing hearings unless faced with exceptional and unavoidable situations.

Despite this ongoing judicial monitoring, the amicus report informed the court that the volume of pending cases has remained almost unchanged since 2018.