New Delhi:
As many as 176 newly-elected MLAs in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly are facing criminal charges, as per data released by an advocacy group on Saturday. On analysing self-sworn affidavits of 285 of the total 288 MLAs, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) found that 62 per cent (176 MLAs) have criminal cases pending against them while 40 per cent (113 MLAs) have serious criminal cases.
The ADR said affidavits of the remaining three MLAs could not be analysed as their completed documents were not available on the Election Commission's website.
Comparing the present findings with the data on outgoing legislators, the ADR said that in the 2014 elections, the state Assembly had 165 MLAs with criminal cases, of which 115 were facing serious criminal charges.
The advocacy group also found that the new Assembly has more number of millionaire MLAs than the outgoing one.
There are 264 (93 per cent) millionaire MLAs compared to 253 (88 per cent) in the outgoing Assembly, the data stated.
"The average of MLAs' assets in the new assembly is Rs 22.42 crore, which was Rs 10.87 crore in 2014. At least 118 MLAs have been re-elected in 2019 elections and the average assets of re-elected MLAs in 2019 is Rs 25.86 crore," the release said.
In Haryana, 84 of the 90 newly elected Haryana MLAs are crorepatis. In the outgoing assembly, 75 of the 90 MLAs possessed assets worth more than Rs 1 crore, which means the number of crorepati legislators has increased by 10 per cent, the ADR report said.
The average of assets per sitting MLA in Haryana is Rs 18.29 crore, while it was Rs 12.97 crore in 2014, it said.
According to the ADR analysis, 37 of the 40 BJP MLAs and 29 of the 31 Congress legislators are crorepatis. The 10 MLAs of the Jannayak Janata Party of Dushyant Chautala are the wealthiest with their average assets being worth Rs 25.26 crore.
Fifty-seven MLAs are aged between 41 and 50 years, 62 legislators posses a bachelor's degree or above.
Twelve of the 90 MLAs are facing criminal cases. The number of such legislators in the outgoing assembly was nine, according to the report.
Of those facing criminal cases, four are from the Congress, two from the BJP and one from the JJP, it said.
