24 with criminal cases in 90-member Chhattisgarh Assembly

As many as 24 MLAs in the newly elected Chhattisgarh legislative assembly have pending criminal cases, with 13 facing serious criminal charges, including murder, attempt to murder and kidnapping.

This was revealed in a report prepared by the Association for Democratic Reforms. The report states that out of the 90 MLAs analysed, 24 (27 per cent) MLAs have declared criminal cases against themselves.

One MLA has declared a case related to attempt to murder.

According to the report, 19 (28 per cent) out of 68 MLAs from the Congress, 3 (20 per cent) out of 15 MLAs from the BJP and 2 (40 per cent) out of 5 MLAs from the Janta Congress Chhattisgarh(J) MLAs have declared criminal cases against themselves in their election affidavits.

The Congress has 12 MLAs and the Janta Congress Chhattisgarh (J) has one MLA who have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their election affidavits.

The report also said 68 (76 per cent) of the newly elected MLAs are 'crorepatis' compared to 67 (74 per cent) in 2013.

As many as 48 MLAs from the Congress, 14 from the BJP, 5 MLAs from the Janta Congress Chhattisgarh (J) and one from the BSP have declared assets valued at more than Rs 1 crore.

As per the report, the average of assets per MLA in the new Chhattisgarh Assembly is Rs 11.63 crore. In 2013, the average assets of 90 MLAs analysed was Rs 8.88 crore.

The average assets per MLA for 68 Congress MLAs analysed is Rs 11.83 crore; 15 BJP MLAs have average assets of Rs 6.32 crore; 5 Janta Congress Chhattisgarh (J) MLAs have average assets worth Rs 28.68 crore; and two BSP MLAs have average assets worth Rs 2.04 crore.

Congress MLA from Ambikapur, T.S. Baba, has declared the highest total assets of over Rs 500 crore.

About 27 (30 per cent) MLAs have declared their educational qualification to be between 5th pass and 12th pass while 32 (69 per cent) MLAs have declared having an educational qualification of graduate or above. One MLA has declared himself as just literate.

As many as 16 (18 per cent) of the MLAs have declared their age to be between 25 and 40 years while 54 (60 per cent) MLAs have declared their age to be between 41 and 60 years. There are 20 (22 per cent) MLAs who have declared their age to be between 61 to 80 years.

Out of the 90 MLAs, 13 (14 per cent) are women. In 2013, the number of women MLAs was 10 (11 per cent).

The number of re-elected MLAs is 30.

--IANS

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