Navi Mumbai: As many as 66% of the newly elected 111 corporators are crorepatis, stated a report published by Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Maharashtra Election Watch. The agency analyzed affidavits given to the Election Commission before the civic polls. A total of 105 candidates, who were elected to the house, had given these sworn statements. The other six were not analyzed due to incomplete or unclear affidavits uploaded at time of making this report.
The report said that 69 of the 105 winners are crorepatis. Of the crorepati candidates, nearly 10% have still not declared their PAN card details. Also, 44 of the 105 winning candidates (42%) have not furnished income tax statements in their affidavits.
Experts said that what makes for interesting reading was 17 of the 105 have criminal cases registered against them. Also, 13 (12%) of the winning candidates have serious criminal cases registered against them. "It is interesting to note that while 12% of the winners have serious criminal cases against them, a whopping 66% of the new corporators have financial assets worth over Rs 1 crore. This is a trend that states that new-age politicians are rich and some have a dubious past," said a political observer.