Crorepati count rises in UP Assembly; 1/4th MLAs face serious criminal cases

Lucknow: An average of one in four newly elected MLAs in Uttar Pradesh is named in a serious criminal case like murder or rape, while eight out of 10 is a crorepati, a study showed today.

As per the study released by the UP Election Watch and the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), 143 (36 per cent) MLAs have declared criminal cases against them, though down from 189 (47 per cent) among those elected in 2012 assembly polls.

Besides, 107 MLAs (26 per cent) have declared serious criminal cases and this has risen from 98 MLAs or 24 per cent in 2012.

The serious criminal cases include offence for which maximum punishment is of five years or more, non-bailable offence, electoral offence, offence related to loss to exchequer, offences that are assault, murder, kidnap, rape related, and offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act, as well as crimes against women.

Eight MLAs have declared cases related to murder and 34 MLAs have declared cases related to attempt to murder. One MLA has declared case related to crime against women, such as assault or criminal force to woman.

The study said that 83 from the BJP, 11 from the SP, four from the BSP, one from the Congress and three Independents have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

On financial details of the winning candidates, the study said 322 (80 per cent) are crorepatis, up from 271 or 67 per cent of those who won the 2012 assembly elections in UP.

The average of assets per MLA who won in the Uttar Pradesh  2017 assembly elections is Rs 5.92 crore whereas the average asset for each candidate who contested in the 2017 assembly elections was Rs 1.90 crore. In 2012, the average assets per MLA analysed was Rs 3.36 crore. A total of 50 MLAs have declared liabilities of Rs 1 crore and above.

Only 4 MLAs have not declared PAN details. Number of re-elected MLAs analysed in the assembly elections of 2017 is 92. The average assets of re-elected MLAs in 2012 was Rs 4.62 crore, which has now risen to Rs 8.62 crore.

The study further showed that 101 (25 per cent) MLAs have declared their education qualification to be between Class VIII pass and Class XII pass, while 290 (72 per cent) MLAs have declared having an educational qualification of graduate or above.

As total of 201 (50 per cent) MLAs have declared their age to be between 25 and 50 years while another 201 MLAs have declared their age to be between 51 and 80 years.

On gender details, it said only 10 per cent or 40 are women, though up from 32 or 8 per cent in 2012.