Odisha doesn’t have a single billionaire MLA and Karnataka Assembly has the highest number of billionaires.
The fact was revealed in the report by the Association For Democratic Reforms (ADR). According to the report that was made public on Saturday, out of the 4,001 MLAs analysed from state Assemblies, 88 (two per cent) are billionaires.
Karnataka is leading in terms of billionaire MLAs, the report says. As many as 32 (14 per cent) out of 223 MLAs are billionaires in Karnataka. Similarly, 4 out of 59 MLAs (7 per cent) from Arunachal Pradesh, 10 (6 per cent) out of 174 MLAs from Andhra Pradesh, 12 (4 per cent) out of 284 MLAs from Maharashtra, 2 (3 per cent) out of 68 MLAs from Himachal Pradesh, 5 (3 per cent) out of 182 MLAs from Gujarat and 6 (3 per cent) out of 230 MLAs from Madhya Pradesh have declared assets worth more than Rs 100 crore.
The state with the highest average assets per MLA is Karnataka with average assets of Rs 64.39 crore, followed by Andhra Pradesh with average assets of Rs 28.24 crore and Maharashtra with average assets of Rs 23.52 crore. The average assets per MLA from state assemblies at the all-India level is Rs 13.63 crore. However, the average assets of a legislator in Odisha is only Rs 4 crore.
Chief minister Naveen Patnaik with his Rs 63-crore assets, both movable and immovable, remained the richest of all the MLAs in Odisha. He inherited most of the properties that included valuable land in Delhi. Independent MLA from Raygada, Makaranda Muduli, is one of the poorest MLA with assets worth Rs 15,000.
In terms of criminal background, the percentage of MLAs facing criminal charges compared to other states is also low in Odisha. Out of the 145 MLAs in Odisha, 64 legislators (44 per cent) have criminal cases against them. Out of the 64 MLAs facing criminal charges, 46 have serious criminal cases against them and out of those 46 MLAs, two MLAs have murder cases against them, while attempt to murder cases registered against 11 MLAs and 12 MLAs have atrocities against women cases registered against them. One MLA has rape charges against him.
On the other hand, the state with the highest percentage of MLAs facing criminal cases reported is Kerala (70 per cent), followed by Bihar (67 per cent), Delhi (63 per cent), Maharashtra (62 per cent), Telangana (61 per cent) and Tamil Nadu (60 per cent).
Similarly, the state with the highest percentage of MLAs facing serious criminal cases reported is Delhi. 37 (53 per cent) out of 70 MLAs from Delhi are facing serious criminal charges.
Similarly, 122 (50 per cent) out of 242 MLAs from Bihar, 114 (40 per cent) out of 284 MLAs from Maharashtra, 31 (39 per cent) out of 79 MLAs from Jharkhand, 46 (39 per cent) out of 118 MLAs from Telangana and 155 (38 per cent) out of 403 MLAs from Uttar Pradesh have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their self-sworn affidavits.
