Majority of Chhattisgarh MLAs crorepatis, say watchdogs

Around three-fourth of the newly elected MLAs of Chhattisgarh are crorepatis while about one-sixth of them have serious criminal charges against them, according to an analysis by two private election-watchdogs.

Chhattisgarh has 90 MLAs, who were elected in a two-phased Assembly polls last month. The results were declared last week.

According to Association for Democratic Reforms and National Election Watch, Chhattisgarh has 67 crorepati MLAs out of 90, which is 74 per cent. This is more than a double jump from 28 MLAs in 2008.

This time, 35 out of 49 MLAs in the BJP camp are crorepatis while the 30 out of 39 in Congress fall in same category. The BSP has a single MLA, who is also a crorepati.

The wealthiest among the legislators is Tribhuneswar Sharan Singh Dev, the Congress MLA from Ambikapur constituency with assets worth Rs 565.40 crore. The second wealthiest, Mohan Lal Markam of the Congress, is far behind him with assets worth Rs 12.63 crore followed by Gurmukh Singh Hora, also from the Congress, with assets worth Rs11.68 crore.

The average asset of an MLA in Chhattisgarh is Rs. 8.88 crore, a massive jump from Rs. 1.45 crore in 2008.

Congress MLAs are wealthier than ruling BJP with the average asset of the Opposition MLA being Rs 17.49 crore while that of BJP is Rs 2.19 crore only. The lone BSP MLA has Rs 2.04 crore.

There are 15 MLAs with criminal cases against them while eight of them have serious criminal cases like murder and kidnapping. The BJP has 6 out of 49 and the Congress has 9 out of 39 MLAs who have criminal cases. Out of 66 candidates who contested with serious criminal cases in Chhattisgarh Assembly Elections, 58 candidates lost the elections.

In Chhattisgarh, 53 MLAs are graduates or above while 36 have educational qualification of 12th pass or below. A total of 17 MLAs are aged 40 or less while 27 MLAs have declared their age to be between 41 and 50 years. Thirteen MLAs are 60 above years old.