In the last polls, 24 of the 90 elected MLAs had declared criminal cases against themselves, with 13 facing serious charges.

In the newly elected Chhattisgarh assembly, as many as 17 of the 90 MLAs have declared criminal cases against them. Among them, six face serious charges like voluntarily causing hurt and criminal intimidation, reports news agency PTI.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the assembly election, winning 54 seats. Congress, which had won 68 seats in the state, was reduced to 35 seats, while the Gondwana Gantantra Party (GGP) managed to win in one constituency. Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party failed to open their accounts this time.

According to a report by non-profits Chhattisgarh Election Watch and the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), of the 90 newly elected MLAs, 17 (about 19 per cent) have declared criminal cases against themselves in their poll affidavits.

Twelve, which is 22 per cent of BJP's 54 MLAs, and five, which is 14 per cent Congress's 35 MLAs, have declared criminal cases against them. The BJP has four (7 per cent) MLAs and the Congress has two (6 per cent) legislators who have declared serious criminal cases against themselves.

According to the report, the outgoing Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel (Patan seat), Devendra Yadav (Bhilai Nagar) and Atal Shrivastav (Kota) are among the Congress winners who face criminal cases.

Former ministers like Rajesh Munat (Raipur City West) and Dayaldas Baghel (Navagarh), Shakuntala Singh Portey (Pratappur), Uddheshwari Paikra (Samri), OP Choudhary (Raigarh) Vijay Sharma (Kawardha seat), Vinayak Goyal (Chitrakot-ST) and Asharam Netam (Kanker-ST) are among the newly elected MLAs from the BJP who face criminal cases as per the report.

In the last polls, 24 of the 90 elected MLAs had declared criminal cases against themselves, with 13 facing serious charges.