CHENNAI: The new Tamil Nadu assembly will be the richest assembly ever in the state.

The House will have a record 170 crorepatis MLAs - and that's going only by assets declared in affidavits they filed with their nominations.

Three MLAs, including chief minister J Jayalalithaa, have declared assets of more than 100 crore. Congress MLA from Nanguneri H Vasanthkumar has assets of 337 crore. Anna Nagar DMK MLA M K Mohan is worth 170 crore.

Tamil Nadu assembly is the only one among all four states - with West Bengal, Assam and Kerala - that has MLAs worth more than 100 crore. But the 30-member assembly of the Union territory of Puducherry also has an MLA with assets of more than 100 crore. No less than 83% of its elected members are crorepatis followed by Tamil Nadu with 76%.

The multiple magnates in the Tamil Nadu assembly make the average assets of an MLA in the new assembly 8.21 crore - the highest among the all four states that went to the hustings between March and May.

More demographics from the stew: Tamil Nadu has 170 MLAs in the age group of 31 years to 70 years and one MLA each between 25 and 30 and over 90. Most MLAs (87) are between 51 and 60.

In West Bengal, most MLAs are between 31 and 70, according to the Association of Democratic Reforms (AFR), which collated data based on affidavits candidates filed with their nominations. All five states have one MLA each in the age group of 25 to 30 years.

In statistics that do not necessarily reflect the wisdom of our executive, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu have the most MLAs with PhDs. West Bengal has 10 MLAs who are PhDs and Tamil Nadu has five. Close to 60% of Tamil Nadu's elected members are graduates or postgraduates. In Bengal, 67% of MLAs are graduates or postgraduates.

Because it's always a good time to review our representatives and their rap sheets, Kerala, with 62% of its elected MLAs facing criminal cases, tops the four states in lawbreakers in the House. Tamil Nadu and West Bengal have an equal 37% each but our bhadralok has also voted in 32% MLAs charged in serious criminal cases.