With each round of Assembly elections, the number of super-rich MLAs and those fighting criminal cases appears to be just keep growing.
In the recently concluded polls in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry, Assam and West Bengal, which elected 812 MLAs, there was a marked jump in the number of crorepati MLAs at 53 per cent, with Puducherry and Tamil Nadu topping the list at 83 per cent and 76 per cent, respectively.
The total number of MLAs with serious criminal cases also saw a sharp rise across these States. West Bengal topped the list with 32 per cent declaring such cases, says an analysis of the affidavits of 812 MLAs (barring nine in Tamil Nadu which were badly scanned) by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), a non-profit election watchdog. “The most important message from these elections is that the financial prosperity of MLAs and criminalisation are showing no signs of abating,” said Jagdeep Chokkar, a founder member of ADR.
The three richest among the 812 MLAs in 2016 are from Tamil Nadu and Puducherry — Vasanthakumar H (Congress) with ₹337 crore, Mohan MK (DMK) with ₹170 crore and Ashok Anand (AINRC) with ₹124 crore.
When it comes to education, of the 812 newly elected MLAs, the maximum number (196) are graduates, 167 are post-graduates, 119 are 10{+t}{+h} pass, and 114 are 12{+t}{+h} pass. A total of 19 new MLAs are PhDs, with the highest (10) in West Bengal, followed by five in Tamil Nadu.
Out of the 812 MLAs, only five are aged 25-30 years, with most (278) aged 51-60 years, followed by 212 aged 41-50 years and 187 in the 61-70 age-group. The five oldest ones are aged 81-100 years.
Gender–wise, only 9 per cent of the 812 new MLAs are women. West Bengal is the leader with 40 women out of 293 (14 per cent).