192 newly elected MLAs in five state assemblies have criminal cases, 540 are 'crorepatis': Report

Of the 690 newly elected MLAs to the five state assemblies as many as 192 have criminal cases against them, while 540 of the total are ‘crorepatis’, says a report.

National Election Watch (NEW) and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) have analysed jointly the self-sworn affidavits of 689 out of 690 newly elected MLAs in the five states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa.  Details of one candidate have not been analysed.

“Out of the 689 MLAs analysed, 192 (28 per cent) MLAs have declared criminal cases against themselves,” the ADR report said. Besdies, 140 MLAs have declared serious criminal cases including cases such as murder and attempt to murder, up from 100 in 2012.

Uttar Pradesh has 36 per cent MLAs with declared criminal cases, followed by Uttarakhand (31 pc), Goa (23 pc), Punjab (14 pc) and Manipur (3 pc).

Moreover, there are 27 per cent MLAs with serious declared criminal cases in UP, Uttarakhand (20 pc), Goa (15 pc), Punjab (9 pc) and Manipur (3 pc), it said.

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On financial details, the report said that out of the 689 newly elected MLAs analysed, 540 (78 per cent) are crorepatis.

Goa topped the chart with all the 40 MLAs being crorepatis, followed by Punjab (81 per cent), UP (80 pc), Uttarakhand (73 pc) and Manipur (53 pc).

The top three MLAs with high assets in UP are Shah Alam Urf Guddu Jamali with total assets of over Rs 118 crore, Vinayshankar (over Rs 67 crore) and Rani Pakshalika Singh (over Rs 58 crore).

Individually, Rana Gurjit Singh has total assets of over Rs 169 crore followed by Sukhbir Singh Badal (over Rs 102 crore) and Sukhpal Singh (over Rs 66 crore) -- all in Punjab.

In Uttarakhand, Satpal Maharaj has total assets of over Rs 80 crore followed by Rajesh Shukla (over Rs 25 crore) and Qazi Mohd Nizamuddin (over Rs 21 crore).

Manipur’s Alfred Kanngam S Arthur has total assets of over Rs 36 crore, Kshetrimayum Biren Singh (over Rs 8 crore) and Rajkumar Imo Singh (over Rs 4 crore).

In Goa, Michael Vincent Lobo’s total assets stands at Rs 54 crore followed by Pratapsingh R Rane (over Rs 50 crore) and Pandurang Arjun Madhkaikar (over Rs 32 crore).

The study further showed that 193 (28 per cent) MLAs have declared their education qualification to be between 5th pass and 12th pass, while 473 (69 per cent) MLAs have declared having a qualification of graduate or above.

A total of 329 (48 per cent) MLAs have declared their age to be between 25 and 50 years, while 358 (52 per cent) MLAs have declared their age to be between 51 and 80 years. One MLA has declared his age to be above 80 years.