The average assets of Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) re-contesting in the upcoming Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections increased by Rs 8.79 crore, according to a report by Madhya Pradesh Election Watch (MPEW) and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

The growth of 71 percent is higher than the average increase in assets of re-contesting MLAs in 2013, which was Rs 5.15 crore.

The report analyzes 167 out of the 174 MLA who are re-contesting in the state polls on the basis of disclosures made in their election affidavit. The report does not analyse seven MLAs as their affidavits were either poorly scanned or were not available.

MLAs re-contesting on Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) tickets saw average increase in their assets by Rs 4.51 crore.

This was followed by 107 re-contesting MLAs of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who witnessed average increase in assets of Rs 3.89 crore.

Re-contesting MLAs from the Congress (53) saw their assets increase by an average Rs 3.23 crore.

Average assets of such re-contesting BJP MLAs increased from Rs 4.60 crore to Rs 8.50 crore. Assets of such Congress MLAs on an average increased from Rs 6.59 crore to Rs 9.82 crore.

The four re-contesting MLAs saw their average assets increase from Rs 3.22 crore to Rs 7.74 crore.

As many as 161 crorepatis were elected to the Legislative Assembly in 2013. Around 72 percent of BJP’s MLAs were crorepatis against 69 percent of the Congress legislators in the state.

In 2013, a total of 73 MLAs with criminal cases against them were elected to the Assembly. This ran through party lines. This makes up around 32 percent of the legislators.