As many as 13% of the newly elected members of legislative assembly (MLAs) in Haryana have declared criminal cases against them, while the average asset size of these MLAs have jumped over 40% to Rs18.29 crore, reveals a report. 

 

According to an analysis carried out by Haryana Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), out of the 90 MLAs analysed, 13% of the MLAs have declared criminal cases against themselves. "Four out of 31 MLAs from Congress, two out of 40 MLAs from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) one each from Jannayak Janta Party, Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), and Haryana Lokhit Party and three out of seven independent MLAs have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits," the report says.

 

 

Out of the 90 newly-elected MLAs, 84 or 93% are crorepatis, compared with 75 or 83% during Haryana 2014 assembly elections. At the same time, the average assets of these MLAs jumped to Rs18.29 crore in 2019, from Rs12.97 crore in 2014, the report says. MLAs from Jannayak Janta Party have the highest average assets of Rs25.26 crore, followed by Congress at Rs16.32 crore and BJP at Rs12.04 crore.

 

 

But, in terms of assets, all these political parties are beaten by an independent MLA, Balraj Kundu from Mehem constituency in Rohtak district. He has declared an asset of over Rs141 crore and is followed by Kuldeep Bishnoi of Congress from Adampur constituency in Hisar district at more than Rs105 crore and Gopal Kanda of HLP at over Rs95 crore assets. Mr Kundu has also shown total income of Rs8.18 crore, including his own, his wife and dependent children while filing his income tax return (ITR).

 

 

Balbir Singh of Congress, who won from Israna constituency in Panipat district has declared lowest assets of Rs40 lakh, the report shows.

 

Gopal Kanda, who is emerging out as kingmaker in Haryana, has highest liabilities of over Rs78 crore, out of which liabilities of over Rs39 crore are disputed, as per his affidavit.

 

 

Talking about education, as many as 62% of the MLAs are graduate or above degree, while 30% out of the total 90 MLAs have education qualifications between 5th to 12th pass. 

 

 

Majority or 63% of the newly elected MLAs from Haryana are between 51 years to 70 years, while six MLAs are over 70 years. About 11%) MLAs have declared their age to be between 31 and 40 years while 19% MLAs have declared their age to be between 41 and 50 years.

 

 

Out of the total 90 MLAs, 29 are re-elected again and have registered an average growth of Rs3.25 crore or 24% in their assets compared with previous election.