Puducherry will have more MLAs facing criminal charges
The Hindu
Less gender diverse, new House has MLAs as wealthy as their predecessors
The newly constituted 30-member Assembly is as wealthy as its predecessor, but probably with a slightly higher record of trouble with the law and definitely a lot less gender diverse in composition. The 15th Puducherry Legislative Assembly will have more members facing criminal charges than its predecessor with 43% of elected representatives self-declaring criminal cases as against 37% of legislators in the previous Assembly, an analysis of affidavits of the winning candidates by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) showed. The ADR study also indicated that in terms of wealth, the new Assembly is almost identical to the previous House with 25 of the legislators falling in the crorepati category.For the first time in a Lok Sabha election, the AIADMK forfeited deposits in seven constituencies. For the ruling DMK, the verdict is seen as a popular endorsement of the functioning of its three-year government under Chief Minister M.K. Stalin. The outcome indicates that the BJP, whose Hindutva ideology has all along been considered alien to the political ethos of Tamil Nadu
Cardiologist and MP-elect from Bengaluru Rural C.N. Manjunath, who contested from the BJP and defeated three-time Congress MP D.K. Suresh, said he was the “people’s candidate” and that it is their aspiration to see him in the Union Cabinet. In an interview with The Hindu, he claimed his victory was possible because those who were treated at the Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research became his “ambassadors”.