Out of 243 Bihar MlAs, 162 are crorepati. Poonam Devi Yadav of JD(U) from Khagaria tops the list of the crorepati legislators. She has total declared assets of Rs41,34,45,969 of which Rs2,15,70,969 are movable assets. Closely following her comes Ajeet Sharma of the Congress. The MlA from Bhagalpur has total assets worth Rs40,57,35,981.
These facts have been compiled by Bihar Election Watch (BEW) and Association for Democratic Rights (ADR), released on Friday by Patna High Court judge Samrendra Pratap Singh who was happy to note that after the Election Commission's (EC) directive that all the contesting people are supposed to file their details including assets, educational qualification and criminal cases if any against them. This has helped the voters a lot to know about their candidates.
Anant Kumar Singh, the Independent MlA from Mokama is not only rich in muscle and fire power but also has assets of over Rs28 crore. Singh, who was earlier JD (U) MlA was denied ticket this time by the party for his role in the brutal murder of a youth before the polls, but contested Independent and won from behind the bars. He is still in jail and took oath of the membership of the Assembly only on Thursday.
Of the 71 JD(U) MlAs, 53 and of 80 MlAs of RJD 51 are crorepatis. Altogether 29 MlAs of BJP and 18 of Congress also figure in the list of 162 legislators whose assets are worth over Rs1crore.
However, the case of the richest MlA Poonam Devi Yadav is quite mysterious. In 2010 Assembly election, which she had won, she had declared total assets worth Rs1,87,71,624. Now with over Rs41 crore, she registered a sharp increase of 2103% in her assets. Similarly Purnima Yadav, Congress MlA from Gobindpur, has assets worth Rs16.15 crore. In 2010, when she was JD(U) MlA she had assets worth only Rs2.78 crore.
There are many other MlAs falling in this category who amassed huge wealth in just five years. They include Vijay Kumar Sinha (BJP) from Rs4 to Rs15 crore, lalit Kumar Yadav of RJD from Rs2.83 to Rs12.90 crore, Avaneesh Kumar Singh of BJP from Rs1.25 to Rs8.18 crore, Veena Devi of the same party from Rs4 to Rs10.72 crore and Shivjee Rai of JD(U) from Rs74 lakh to Rs7.36 crore. Faiyaz Ahmad of RJD however had assets worth Rs15.83 crore in 2010 but now showed assets of Rs10.43 crore, a decrease of over Rs5 crore.