Almost two third (66%) of the sitting MLAs in the Delhi Assembly have criminal cases listed against them and more than half of these are of a serious nature.
An analysis by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) of self-sworn affidavits submitted by the MLAs before the Election Commission of India shows that one MLA has declared a case related to an attempt to murder while another legislator has a rape case against him.
In percentage terms, the BJP which has seven MLAs has a higher (71%) share of elected representatives with criminal cases, while the share of the AAP which has 58 MLAs is 66 per cent. The proportion of MLAs with serious criminal cases is also higher for the BJP.
Serious criminal offences include those for which the maximum punishment is of five years or more; offences which are cognizable and non-bailable; offences under Prevention of Corruption Act and crimes against women and children.
Only one MLA is a billionaire, while the total assets of all MLAs stand at Rs 829.21 crores. Total assets with the AAP MLAs stand at Rs 777.02 crores while the seven members of the BJP have total assets of Rs 52.18 crores. Arvind Kejriwal’s assets are three crores while Atishi’s stand slightly above one crore.
Dharampal Lakra of the AAP is by far the richest MLA with assets in excess of Rs 292 crores. At number two and three are Paramila Tokas and A. Dhanwati Chandela of the same party. MLAs with least assets include Rakhi Birla, Durgesh Pathak and Sanjeev Jha—all three of the AAP.
The most common qualification is post graduate, while only two MLAs have passed just class 8.
Most MLAs fall in the 41-50 age group, while there is just one MLA each in the 25-20 and the 71-80 age group.
While 14 per cent of the MLAs from AAP are women, for the BJP this is zero.
