New Madhya Pradesh Assembly has 187 'crorepati' MLAs

New Delhi: An analysis conducted by the Madhya Pradesh Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has revealed that in the newly-elected 230-member legislative assembly, a total of 187 MLAs are multi-millionaires or 'crorepatis', while 41 per cent of the total number have criminal cases against them.

A party-wise analysis of the state assembly has revealed that 91 (84 per cent) out of 109 MLAs from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), 90 (79 per cent) out of 114 MLAs from Congress, 1 (50 per cent) out of 2 MLAs from Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), 1 MLA from Samajwadi Party (SP) and 4 independent MLAs have declared assets valued more than Rs 1 crore.

The average of assets per MLA in the Madhya Pradesh 2018 assembly elections is Rs 10.17 crore, compared to Rs 5.24 crore in 2013. Moreover, the average assets per MLA for 114 Congress MLAs analysed is Rs 9.41 crore, while 109 BJP MLAs have average assets of Rs 11.16 crore, and 4 Independent MLAs have average assets worth Rs 9.24 crore.

On one hand, BJP's Sanjay Satyendra Pathak from Vijayraghavgarh constituency has declared assets worth over Rs 226 crore, making him the MLA with the highest declared assets, and on other hand, a BJP MLA from Pandhana constituency, Ram Dangore, ranks the lowest on the list with total assets worth Rs 50,749.   

The analysis has also highlighted names of 16 MLAs who have declared their total assets worth more than Rs 1 crore but have not filed income tax returns for the same.

The 230-member Assembly comprises 94 (41 per cent) MLAs who have declared criminal cases against themselves, compared to 73 (32 per cent) MLAs in 2013.

47 (20 per cent) MLAs have declared serious criminal cases including cases related to murder, attempt to murder, and crime against women, the analysis noted.

Moreover, 6 MLAs have declared cases related to attempt to murder (IPC Section 307), while one Congress MLA, Sukhdev Panse from Multai constituency, has declared case related to murder (IPC Section 302).

3 MLAs have declared cases related to crime against women such as Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty (IPC Section-354) and Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty (IPC Section-498A)

A party-wise analysis has revealed that 56 (49 per cent) out of 114 MLAs from Congress, 34 (31 per cent) out of 109 MLAs from BJP, 2 from BSP, 1 from SP and 1 out of 4 independent MLAs have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

Furthermore, 28 (25 per cent) out of 114 MLAs from Congress, 15 (14 per cent) out of 109 MLAs from BJP, 2 from BSP, 1 from SP and 1 out of 4 independent MLAs have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

The analysis also revealed that in the 230-member Assembly, 67 per cent or 155 MLAs have a graduate degree while 64 or 28 per cent are 5th-12th pass.

Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh were held in a single phase on November 28, while results were declared on December 11.

With 114 Congress candidates elected to power, the party fell two seats short of a total majority. However, they later roped in support from the elected legislators of the BSP (2), SP (1) and four independent candidates.

On Thursday, the Congress announced Kamal Nath as the new chief minister of Madhya Pradesh. His swearing-in ceremony will be held on December 17.