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Bhupesh Baghel was sworn in as the third Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh on December 17, less than a week after the Indian National Congress won the assembly polls in the state.
Election results declared on December 11 gave Congress 68 seats in the 91-member assembly (one member is nominated). The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which governed the state for 15 years with Raman Singh as the chief minister, finished second with 15 seats.
Former chief minister Ajit Jogi’s Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (JCC) won five seats on its debut. Jogi’s ally Bahujan Samaj Party BSP) bagged two seats.
A report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has suggested that the number of elected Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) with pending criminal cases has increased from 15 percent in 2013 to 27 percent in 2018.
The report also analyses the newly elected MLAs on the basis of financial assets, educational qualification and age. The analysis of all 90 elected MLAs was done on the basis of declarations made by the legislators in their election affidavit.
Here’s how the new Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly stacks up:
Financial assets
According to the report, 68 (76 percent) of the newly elected MLAs are crorepatis. The number of crorepatis elected in 2013 was 67.
Out of the 68 crorepati MLAs, 48 belong to the Congress and 14 belong to the BJP. All of JCC’s five and one out of BSP’s two MLAs have declared financial assets of more than Rs 1 crore.
Around 28 MLAs declared assets of over Rs 5 crore and 23 had assets between Rs 2 crore and Rs 5 crore. About 25 MLAs declared their assets to be between Rs 50 lakh and Rs 2 crore.
In the new assembly, 11 MLAs have assets between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 50 lakh while three have assets under Rs 10 lakh.
Average financial assets of Chhattisgarh’s MLAs rose from Rs 8.88 crore in 2013 to Rs 11.63 crore in 2018.
Also read: 73% of Rajasthan’s new MLAs are crorepatis, 23% facing criminal cases
Criminal cases
Out of the 90 MLAs, 24 (27 percent) have declared criminal cases against themselves. This number was 15 in 2013.
The number of MLAs having serious criminal cases increased from eight in 2013 to 13 in 2018. Serious criminal cases have been categorised as offences for which maximum punishment is of 5 years or more, offences that are assault, murder, kidnap, rape related, among others.
As many as 19 out of Congress’ 68 MLAs have criminal cases pending against them. Out of BJP’s 15, three MLAs have cases pending. JCC has two MLAs with cases pending.
Educational qualification
According to the report, 27 MLAs have declared their educational qualification to be between 5th pass and 12th pass. As many as 32 MLAs have declared qualification of ‘graduate’ or above. One MLA has declared being ‘literate’.
Also read: 89% of Telangana’s newly elected MLAs are crorepatis, 61% facing criminal cases
Age
The ADR report suggests that 16 MLAs are between 25 and 40 years of age. Around 54 MLAs are aged between 41 and 60 years while 20 legislators are aged between 61 and 80 years of age.
Gender
Out of the 90 elected members, 13 are women. This number has marginally risen from what was 10 in 2013.
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