According to a report by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), a non-governmental organization related to electoral reforms, about 32 percent of the sitting MPs of Rajya Sabha have declared criminal cases against themselves, while 14 percent of them are billionaires.
This report is based on the analysis of affidavits of 229 out of 233 members of Rajya Sabha. At present, one seat in Jharkhand is vacant, while the affidavits of three MPs were not available. This analysis also includes 37 recently elected members.
Of the 229 MPs whose documents were analysed, 73 (32 per cent) have declared criminal cases. Of them, 36 (16 percent) are facing serious charges. One MP has given information about a case of murder, four about attempt to murder and three about cases related to crimes against women.
27 out of 99 BJP MPs, 12 out of 28 Congress MPs, four out of 13 Trinamool Congress MPs and four out of 10 Aam Aadmi Party MPs have announced that criminal cases have been registered against them. Three MPs each from Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) have also disclosed criminal cases.
The report also found that the total wealth of 31 MPs (14 percent) is in billions. Among major parties, six MPs of BJP, five MPs of Congress, four MPs of YSR Congress Party, two MPs each of Aam Aadmi Party and BRS and three MPs of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) have declared assets worth more than Rs 100 crore.
The average asset of a member of Rajya Sabha has been estimated at Rs 120.69 crore. In the case of BJP, the average assets per MP is Rs 28.29 crore, while for Congress it is Rs 128.61 crore, for Trinamool it is Rs 17.70 crore and for Aam Aadmi Party it is Rs 574.09 crore. Other parties include YSRCP (Rs 522.63 crore), Samajwadi Party (Rs 399.71 crore), Biju Janata Dal (Rs 105.63 crore) and DMK (Rs 11.90 crore).
BRS MP Bandi Partha Sarathi has declared the highest assets worth around Rs 5,300 crore. After this, Aam Aadmi Party’s Rajendra Gupta (Rs 5,053 crore) and YSRCP’s Ayodhya Rami Reddy Ala (Rs 2,577 crore) are at second and third place.
Aam Aadmi Party MP Sant Balbir Singh has the least assets, whose assets are around Rs 3 lakh. After him, Maharaja Sajooba Lishemba of Manipur (about Rs 5 lakh) and Prakash Chik Barak of Trinamool (about Rs 9 lakh) are in second and third place.
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