PNS|New Delhi
The total assets of 4,001 sitting MLAs stood at Rs 54,545 crore, which is more than the combined annual budgets for 2023-24 of Nagaland, Mizoram and Sikkim, according to a report.
The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and the National Election Watch (NEW) have extracted the data from affidavits filed by the MLAs prior to contesting their last elections.
The report said of 4,033 legislators, affidavit of 4,001 have been analysed. The average of assets per MLA, belonging to 84 political parties and Independent, is Rs 13.63 crore, it said.
“The total assets of 4,001 sitting MLAs are Rs 54,545 crore. This amount is more than the combined annual budget for 2023-24 of three states, Nagaland, Mizoram and Sikkim, totalling Rs 49,103 crore. The annual budget 2023-24 of Nagaland is Rs 23,086 crore, Mizoram is Rs 14,210 crore and Sikkim is Rs 11,807 crore,” the report said.
Among major parties, the average assets per MLA for 1,356 BJP MLAs analysed is Rs 11.97 crore, for 719 Congress MLAs is Rs 21.97 crore, for 227 TMC MLAs is Rs 3.51 crore, for 161 AAP MLAs is Rs 10.20 crore and 146 YSRCP MLAs have average assets worth Rs.23.14 crore.
The total assets of BJP and Congress MLAs is Rs 16,234 crore and Rs 15,798 crore, respectively, which add up to Rs 32,032 crore or 58.73 per cent of the total assets of Rs 54,545 crore pertaining to the sitting MLAs of 84 political parties and Independent MLAs, the report said.
It said that the total assets for 223 MLAs analysed from Karnataka is Rs 14,359 crore, 284 MLAs analysed from Maharashtra is Rs 6,679 crore and 174 MLAs analysed from Andhra Pradesh is Rs 4,914 crore.
The assets of 223 MLAs from Karnataka are more than the individual annual budgets 2023-24 of Mizoram and Sikkim. It is also 26 per cent of the combined total assets of all sitting MLAs Rs 54,545 crores, the report said.
“It is also more than the combined assets of sitting MLAs from Rajasthan, Punjab, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Goa, Meghalaya, Odisha, Assam, Nagaland, Uttarakhand, Kerala, Puducherry, Jharkhand, Sikkim, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura,” the ADR said.
The combined assets of sitting MLAs from these 21 states and union territories is Rs 13,976 crore.
The total assets for 59 MLAs analysed from Tripura is Rs 90 crores, 40 MLAs from Mizoram is Rs 190 crore and 60 MLAs from Manipur have total assets worth Rs 225 crore.