Assembly elections 2018: Chhattisgarh MLAs rake in the moolah, says study

A study shows that the MLAs who are re-contesting have seen their assets rise by an average Rs 13.7 million or 13 per cent in the five years since they won last polls

Citing the election affidavits of the 69 re-contesting MLAs in the Chhattisgarh polls, the Association for Democratic Reform (ADR) said their declared average assets have risen to Rs 122.9 million from Rs 109.2 million, declared in 2013.

Giving party-wise details, the ADR study said the average assets of the 34 re-contesting MLAs from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had almost doubled to Rs 40 million. The average assets for the 30 re-contesting MLAs of the Congress are much higher at Rs 210 million, though the figure has remained almost unchanged from the 2013 levels.

In the case of Ajit Jogi's Janta Congress Chhattisgarh (J), there are three candidates who had won the 2013 elections. Their average assets have risen by nearly 11 per cent to Rs 50 million, the election-focused rights group said.

The Bahujan Samaj Party’s lone re-contesting MLA saw a rise of 94 per cent in the average assets to Rs 30 million, while the same for the lone Independent MLA has gone up by 21 per cent to Rs 80 million, according to the study.

The assets taken into account include salary, rental income, agriculture income, as also income from business and investments of the candidate as well as that of the spouse, the ADR study showed.