Salary of the MLAs of Delhi is among the lowest compared to MLAs of all other states: Saurabh Bhardwaj

The low salary of MLAs of Delhi has been a long-standing point of difference between the legislators and the Central Government. Sharing the latest development in this tussle, AAP Chief Spokesperson and MLA Shri Saurabh Bhardwaj said that the salary of the MLAs of Delhi is among the lowest compared to MLAs of all other states. He informed that till now the salary of the MLAs of Delhi was about Rs 12,000 and now will be Rs 30,000. Notably, The MLAs of Telangana earn a salary of Rs 2,50,000; those in Maharashtra earn Rs 2,32,000; Rs 1,87,000 in UP; Rs 1,60,000 in J&K Rs 1,60,000 in Uttarakhand; Rs 1,30,000 in Andhra Pradesh; Rs 1,25,000 in Himachal Pradesh; Rs 1,25,000 in Rajasthan; Rs 1,17,000 in Goa; Rs 1,15,000 in Haryana and Rs 1,14,000 in Punjab. Commenting on this drastic difference, he added, "Despite the salary of Delhi MLAs being 12 thousand, many websites show it as Rs 2.10 lacs which is completely false. After seven years, the Central Government suggested hiking the salary of the MLAs of Delhi from 12,000 to 30,000, which will be 90,000 including all the allowances. The salary of MLAs won't increase immediately; it will increase only after being passed by Delhi Legislative Assembly and then get notified."

AAP Chief Spokesperson and MLA Shri Saurabh Bharadwaj said, “When the AAP Government was formed in Delhi in 2015, it was the firm belief of the party and its legislators that the wages of the legislators be such that there would be no need for them to look for other means to earn money and that they can spend all of their energies in working for the people of the city. It is obvious that, due to low salary, legislators are also forced to run a private business of their own, then they will not be able to work for the people with complete dedication.”

He added, “When the legislators were elected in 2015, their salary was Rs. 12,000 and this is not their basic salary, as some people might misunderstand, this was their salary. We had at that point wanted to increase the salary and passed a Bill in the Vidhan Sabha and later sent it to the Central Government. The Bill has been stuck with the Centre for the last seven years, from 2015 to 2022. So for the last seven years, the salary of the legislators of the Delhi Government has been Rs.12,000. Besides this amount, they receive a constituency allowance, conveyance allowance, secretariat allowance and telephone allowance. The secretariat allowance includes the rent of the offices of the legislator. The telephone allowance includes the bill of the various telephones of the legislators. The conveyance allowance is for the legislators to be able to move around in their constituency for their work. The total, after including all of these allowances, would add up to Rs.54,000 and this is what the legislators would receive. If you Google the salary of the legislators for other states of the country and as well as those for Delhi, you will be shocked to see that the search engine states it to be Rs.2,10,000. This is the information that you will get even on Wikipedia, which is absolutely false.”

Shri Bharadwaj further added, “Now, when this Bill was sent to the Central Government, the suggestion that the state government received from them was that we increase the salary from Rs.12,000 to Rs.30,000. The state government had proposed a larger amount, but this was the reply from the Central Government. The Centre also suggested an increase in all the allowances in this order: Constituency allowance be increased from Rs.18,000 to Rs.25,000; Conveyance allowance be increased from Rs. 6,000 to 10,000; telephone allowance be increased from Rs. 8,000 to 10,000 and the secretariat allowance be hiked from Rs. 10,000 to 15,000. With this, the total salary of the legislators in Delhi will be hiked from the current Rs.54,000 to Rs.90,000. The salary has not been hiked as yet, this is just the suggestion from the Central Government. The revised Bill now needs to be placed in the Delhi Vidhan Sabha and it needs to be passed and then notified. Only after that will the total salary of the Delhi legislators increase to Rs 90,000.”

He concluded, “With this, the AAP also wanted to highlight the salaries of the legislators in other states of the country. The MLAs in Telangana earn a salary of Rs 250,000; those in Maharashtra earn Rs 232,000; those in Uttar Pradesh earn Rs 187,000; those in J&K earn Rs 160,000; those in Uttarakhand earn Rs 160,000; those in Andhra Pradesh earn Rs 130,000; those in Himachal Pradesh earn Rs 125,000; those in Rajasthan earn Rs 125,000; those in Goa earn Rs 117,000; those in Haryana earn Rs 115,000 and those in Punjab earn Rs 114,000. So, it is clear that the salary of a legislator in Delhi is amongst the lowest in the country. We wanted to highlight this to the national media, so that there is no misreporting on this matter.”