Among the top three crorepati MLAs, Congress party’s TS Baba and Amitesh Shukla have assets worth Rs 500 crore and Rs 74 crore respectively, while BJP’s Saurabh Singh Thakur possesses assets of more than Rs 27 crore.

Not less than 37.5 percent of the incumbent legislators from both sides of the political divide in poll-bound Chhattisgarh have been found to have criminal cases filed against them.

The Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are set for a face-off in two phases on November 7 and 17 in the state. The list of tainted legislators came to the fore when the election watchdog began reviewing the criminal, financial, and other backgrounds of 90 MLAs in Chhattisgarh. Details of 88 lawmakers were studied as two constituencies, Baloda Bazar and Vaishali Nagar, lay vacant. While declaring details in their affidavits, 21 MLAs (24 percent) mentioned that they have criminal cases pending against them, while 11 (13 percent) have admitted to have serious criminal cases against them.

The ADR report also revealed that one of the sitting MLAs is facing a case of attempt to murder. Sharing party-wise details, the report says that 18 (25 percent) out of the Congress' 71 legislators and 3 (21 percent) out of the 14 BJP lawmakers declared criminal cases in their affidavits. The data shows that 11 (15 percent) Congress MLAs have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

With respect to the financial background, 65 MLAs, 74 percent, have assets worth over Rs 1 crore. The Congress has 50 (70 percent) crorepatis in its squad of 71 MLAs, while the BJP has 13 (93 percent). Two MLAs, one each from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J), have declared assets of more than Rs 1 crore.

The ADR report says that the average assets per MLA of the Congress party is worth Rs 11.51 crore, while that for the BJP is Rs 6.71 crore.