MAJORITY OF THE RAJYA SABHA MPS HAVE ASSETS OVER ₹1 CRORE: STUDY

ACCORDING TO THE AFFIDAVITS SUBMITTED BY THE MPS, 71 MEMBERS FACE CRIMINAL CHARGES, THE ADR REPORT SAID

NEW DELHI: A large majority of parliamentarians cutting across party lines in the Rajya Sabha have assets of at least Rs 1 crore and nearly a third of them face criminal charges, a study by the Association for Democratic Reforms and National Election Watch has found after analysing publicly available documents.

As many as 71 MPs face criminal charges, according to the affidavits submitted by them, the study found, and 37 have declared serious criminal charges. To be sure, some of the criminal cases against politicians, across political lines, are politically motivated.

Two MPs face charges of murder and four MPs have charges of attempts to murder. Four other MPs have declared cases related to crime against women, the study revealed.

The non-profits looked at the financial, criminal and other background details of 226 members of the Rajya Sabha. One seat is vacant, affidavits of two were not available and four seats from Jammu and Kashmir were undefined, the non-partisan NGOs said.

HT reached out to ADR for a comment but did not get one immediately. The report also found that 197 Rajya Sabha MPs are worth at least Rs 1 crore . As many as 86 MPs have assets worth at least Rs 10 crore , 34 have assets between Rs 5 crore and Rs 10 crore, and 77 MPs hold assets worth between Rs 1 crore and Rs 5 crore each.

The Congress has the major share of crorepati MPs with 29 out of 31 (the party’s strength in the upper house). They have average assets of Rs 50.09 crore. Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam has nine out of 10, TMC 10 out 13, and BJP 74 out of 85.

Telangana Rashtra Samithi MPs have the highest average assets worth ₹799.46 crore (the party has seven MPs in the Rajya Sabha). BJP MPs average ₹27.44 crore each, TMC ₹4.34 crore, NCP ₹118.71 crore, AAP ₹131.66 crore and YSRCP ₹395.77 crore.

The BJP has 11 MPs with doctorates and 25 postgraduate degrees. Congress has six MPs with doctorates and 14 with postgraduate degrees.