67% of councillors elected to MCD are crorepatis, says report

Following delimitation of wards earlier this year, the number of seats in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) came down to 250.

At least 67 per cent of the 250 newly elected councillors in the MCD are crorepatis, according to an Association for Democratic Reforms report.

In 2017, when 270 wards of the then three municipal corporations had gone to the polls, 51 per cent of the 266 councillors analysed were crorepatis, it said.

Following delimitation of wards earlier this year, the number of seats in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) came down to 250.

The AAP ended the BJP's 15-year stint in the MCD -- trifurcated in 2012 into north, south and east corporations and unified this year -- by winning 134 seats while restricting the BJP to 104 seats. The Congress won just nine seats while three wards went to Independent candidates.

"Out of the 248 winning candidates analysed, 167 (67 per cent) are crorepatis. Out of 266 councillors analysed during MCD elections (in) 2017, 135 (51 per cent) councillors were crorepatis," the report said.

It said 82 councillors who declared assets worth more than Rs 1 crore were from the BJP -- the highest among all parties.

The AAP has 77 councillors who are self-declared crorepatis.

"...82 (79 per cent) out of 104 from the BJP, 77 (58 per cent) out of 132 from the AAP, 6 (67 per cent) out of nine from the INC (Indian National Congress) and 2 (67 per cent) of three Independent winning candidates have declared assets worth more than Rs 1 crore," the report added.

The Association for Democratic Reforms and Delhi Election Watch analysed the self-sworn affidavits of 248 of 250 councillors in the MCD elections. The assets of two winning candidates could not be analysed due to the unavailability of clear and complete affidavits with the State Election Commission, Delhi.

The average assets per winning candidate of the 104 BJP councillors is Rs 5.29 crore while that of the 132 AAP councillors analysed is Rs 3.56 crore, the report said.

The Association for Democratic Reforms said the average assets per candidate for the nine Congress councillors was Rs 4.09 crore. The three Independent councillors have average assets worth Rs 5.53 crore.

Polling was held on December 4 and the results announced on Wednesday.