35% MLAs in Uttar Pradesh have Criminal Cases : ADR Report | 24 Nov 2021

Why in News

• A press release was issued by Uttar Pradesh Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reform (ADR) on November 23, 2021 after analyzing the financial, criminal and other details of 396 out of 403 sitting MLAs of the Assembly.

Key Points

• The analysis is based on the affidavits submitted by candidates in the 2017 Assembly elections and the by-elections that followed.
• As per the ADR, it was found that out of 396 MLAs in the Assembly, 140 or 35 percent MLAs have criminal cases and 106 or 27 percent MLAs have serious criminal cases.
• Party wise, 106 out of 304 MLAs of BJP, 18 out of 49 MLAs of SP and 2 MLAs out of 18 of BSP and 1 MLA of Congress have criminal cases pending against them.
• The report further said that of the 396 MLAs in the Assembly, 313 or 79 percent were crorepatis.
• The BJP has the highest number of crorepati MLAs (235 out of 304) with 77 percent while 42 out of 49 (86 percent) MLAs of Samajwadi Party were crorepatis. Apart from this, 15 out of 16 MLAs of BSP and five out of seven MLAs of Congress are crorepatis.
• The average assets of MLAs was Rs 5.85 crores. Among the main parties, the average assets of 304 MLAs of BJP is Rs 5.04 crore, that of 49 MLAs of Samajwadi Party is Rs 6.07 crore, of 16 MLAs of BSP is Rs 19.27 crore and the average assets of 7 MLAs of Congress is Rs 10.06 crore.
• BSP MLA from Mubarakpur Assembly constituency, Shah Alam alias Guddu Jamali, has total assets of more than Rs 118 crores and tops the list of crorepati MLAs, followed by BSP's Vinayshankar Tiwari from Chillupar Assembly seat with assets of more than Rs. 67 crore.
• Out of 396 MLAs, 95 have declared their educational qualification between 8th to 12th class passed, 290 MLAs have declared themselves as graduates or above, 4 MLAs have are illiterate and 5 MLAs were Diploma holders.
• Apart from this, 206 MLAs are aged between 25 and 50 years and 190 MLAs are between 51 and 80 years.