23% new MLAs in Rajasthan have criminal cases against them

As many as 46, or 23 per cent, of the newly elected MLAs in Rajasthan have declared criminal cases against themselves, with 28 facing serious criminal cases including charges related to murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping.

This was revealed in a report issued by Rajasthan Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) -- the NGOs.

Congress MLA Parsadi Lal from Lalsot constituency has declared one charge related to murder, while four others, all from Congress, have declared cases related to attempt to murder.

The Congress has 25 (25 per cent) of its 99 MLAs, who has declared criminal cases against themselves, BJP has 12 (16 per cent) of its 73 MLAs and the BSP has two (33 per cent) of its six MLAs with declared criminal cases.

Similarly, the Congress has 16 (16 per cent) MLAs, BJP has seven (10 per cent) and BSP two (33 per cent), who declared serious criminal cases against themselves.

The report by said 158 (79 per cent) of newly elected MLAs are 'crorepatis' compared to 145 (73 per cent) in 2013.

As many as 82 MLAs from Congress, 58 from BJP, 11 independent and five from BSP have declared assets valued more than Rs 1 crore.

As per the report, the average of asset per MLA in the new Rajasthan Assembly is Rs 7.39 crore. In 2013, the average assets of 199 MLAs analysed was Rs 5.81 crore.

Two MLAs, however, did not declared their source of income.

About 59 (30 per cent) MLAs have declared their educational qualification to be between 5th pass and 12th pass while 129 (65 per cent) MLAs have declared having an educational qualification of graduate or above. There are seven MLAs who have declared themselves to be just literate.

Out of 199 MLAs, 23 (12 per cent) are women. In 2013, the number of women MLAs was 28 (14 per cent).

--IANS

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