Chhattisgarh elections: 70% of Cong MLAs crorepatis, 18 with criminal cases

The Congress has 50 (70 per cent) candidates who are crorepatis, whereas, the BJP has 13 MLAs who have declared assets of more than Rs 1 crore

More than one-third of the legislators in the Chhattisgarh Assembly across the political spectrum have been found to have criminal cases filed against them, a Money Control (MC) report has said. The Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are the main parties in the state and set for a face-off in the upcoming assembly polls. The elections in the state would be conducted in two phases, November 7 and 17, the Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said in a press conference on Monday, October 9.

The list of legislators with a criminal history has surfaced as the election watchdog started its evaluation of candidates for criminal, financial, and other aspects of the lives of the 90 MLAs in the state. As a part of this exercise, details of 88 MLAs were scrutinised as two constituencies lay vacant in the state.

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As these MLAs declared their details in their affidavits, 21 MLAs mentioned that they have criminal cases pending against them, while 11 have admitted to having serious criminal cases against them, the report said. The average asset value of Congress MLAs stood at Rs 11.51 crore, while for BJP, it is Rs 6.71 crore, the MC report said.

The report from the Association for Democratic Records (ADR) also said that one of the sitting MLAs is facing a case of murder. Speaking of the party-wise details, the report said that 18 (25 per cent) of Congress' 71 MLAs and three (21 per cent) of 14 BJP MLAs in the state declared criminal cases in their affidavits. The data indicated that 11 of Congress' MLAs declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

Talking about the financial standing of the candidates in Chhattisgarh, 65 MLAs, 74 per cent, have assets worth more than one crore rupees. The Congress has 50 (70 per cent) candidates who are crorepatis, whereas BJP has 13 MLAs who have declared assets of more than one crore rupees, Money Control reported.