At least 95 zilla parishad members are crorepatis, while 82 have criminal cases against them, including 65 with serious criminal charges, an analysis of the affidavits of 726 of the 851 recently elected members carried out by Odisha Election Watch (OEW) and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), revealed. 

As fas the the parties are concerned, 66 (10%) out of 661 ZP members from the BJD, 6 (16%) of BJP’s 37 and 7 (32%) out of Congress’s 22 members have pending criminal cases against them. 

“The affidavits of 726 of the 851 members were analysed as the rest were not uploaded on the SEC website,” OEW state convenor Ranjan Kumar Mohanty said. 

Among the crorepatis, 90 (14%) from BJD, three (8%) from BJP and two (9%) from the Congress have declared assets of more than Rs 1 crore. The average assets per zilla parishad members is Rs 56.60 lakh with Rebati Nayak, BJD ZP member from Soro being the richest, with assets of Rs 18 crore. Rina Behera from Chilika in Khurda district, also from the BJD, is the poorest with no movable or immovable property to her name. “I don’t have any property except the shared family accommodation. I don’t earn either,” Behera said. 

While 136 (18%) have studied below Class X, 38 are postgraduates (5%). The OEW-ADR report said 451 (62%) ZP members had studied between classes 5 and 12 while 256 (35%) having declared educational qualification of graduate and above. Seven zilla parishad members have declared themselves to be just literate. 

The report sparked political blame game. Senior BJP leader and former MLA Pradip Purohit said the report has exposed that the BJD had fielded goons who won elections flexing muscles. Congress leader Nishikant Mishra said the BJD had chosen candidates with money and muscle power, which is reflected in the report. 

Meanwhile, Cuttack mayor and senior BJD leader Subash Chandra Singh said the so-called criminal antecedents should be properly analysed to find out the truth as some could be petty or political in nature. “Also, due to rising cost of land, most people who have land are now valued to have property beyond Rs 1 crore,” Singh said. 

Jayant Mohapatra, a retired professor of political science, said the overall percentage of representatives with criminal cases — 11% — is not so alarming. “However, all parties should ensure that those with heinous charges should not be given party tickets.”