The 15th Rajasthan Assembly has at least 46 MLAs with criminal cases lodged against them compared to 36 MLAs elected in the State Assembly elections in 2013.
Out of the 199 members of legislative assembly (MLAs), 46 MLAs have declared criminal cases against themselves. Twenty eight MLAs have declared ‘serious’ criminal cases against them, says the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) report.
In the 2013 Assembly elections, 19 MLAs had declared ‘serious’ criminal cases against them. Parsadi Lal of Congress who contested from Lalsot constituency of Dausa district has declared one charge related to murder. Four MLAs, all from Congress, have declared cases related to attempt to murder (IPC section 307).
Comparing the candidates as per their political affiliation, 25 out of 99 MLAs from Congress, 12 out of 73 MLAs from BJP and two out of six MLAs from BSP among other regional political outfits have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits, the report said.
Sixteen out of 99 MLAs from Congress, seven out of 73 MLAs from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and two out of six MLAs from Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have declared ‘serious’ criminal cases against them.
According to report, out of the 199 newly elected MLAs, 158 are crorepatis compared to 145 MLAs in the 2013 assembly elections.
A total of 82 out of 99 MLAs from the Congress, 58 of 73 MLAs from the BJP, 11 of 13 Independent MLAs and five of six BSP MLAs have declared their assets worth over Rs 1 crore.
Among the richest MLAs who have declared their total assets in IT returns are Congress leaders Parasram Mordia (172 crore) and Udai Lal Anjana (107crore), and Ramkesh Meena (39 crore), an Independent.
The candidates elected having fewer assets include youngest MLA Rajkumar Roat, Mukesh Kumar Bhakar and Ramniwas Gawriya.
As per the report, 59 MLAs have declared their educational qualification to be between 5th pass and 12th pass while 129 MLAs have declared having an educational qualification of graduate or above. There are seven MLAs who have declared themselves to be just literate. Out of 199 MLAs, 23 are women as against 28 from the same gender in the 2013 State polls.