ADR Report Flags Concern: 60% Tamil Nadu MLAs Have Criminal Cases

A report reveals 60% of Tamil Nadu’s MLAs have criminal cases, with 55 facing serious charges, while total declared assets reach ₹2729.87 crore.

Post Published By: Rohit Goyal

Updated : 21 March 2026, 7:10 PM IST

TN Assembly

Tamil Nadu: A report released by the Association for Democratic Reforms on Friday has revealed that nearly 60% of sitting MLAs in Tamil Nadu have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

60% of sitting MLAs in Tamil Nadu have declared criminal cases against themselves, a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) released on Friday said.

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The report analysed criminal, financial and demographic backgrounds of 218 sitting MLAs out of the 234-member state assembly, based on affidavits submitted prior to the assembly elections in 2021 and subsequent by-elections.

Serious Criminal cases against MLAs

According to the report, out of those analysed, 131 sitting MLAs have declared criminal cases, with 55 out of these having declared serious criminal cases against themselves, including 2 MLAs declaring murder cases (IPC section 302), 13 having declared attempt to murder cases (IPC section 307) and 3 having declared crimes against women, out of which 1 MLA declared a rape case (IPC section 376).

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A party-wise analysis revealed that 96 out 126 Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MLAs, 13 out of 60 MLAs from All India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), 11 out of 15 Congress MLAs, 2 out of 4 BJP MLAs, 2 out 4 Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) MLAs , 2 out of 3 Pattali Makkal Katchi MLAs, and both MLAs fielded from PMK’s S Ramadoss faction and Communist Party of India (CPI) have declared criminal cases against themselves.