77% sitting MLAs crorepati, 33% with criminal cases: Analysis of outgoing Tamil Nadu Assembly

As Tamil Nadu is ready to elect a new government, take a look at an analysis on sitting MLAs based on their financial assets, criminal cases, educational qualifications, and gender representation, published by ADR. (Representative image)

With elections to the Tamil Nadu assembly due in April, the ruling AIADMK is looking to retain the throne with ally BJP while the DMK-Congress alliance is trying to wrest power in the state.

Elections in the state will be held in a single phase on April 6. Results will be declared on May 2 along with the three other poll-bound states – Assam, Kerala, and West Bengal -- and the union territory of Puducherry.

As the state is ready to elect a new government, take a look at an analysis on sitting MLAs based on their financial assets, criminal cases, educational qualifications, and gender representation, published by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

This analysis is based on the affidavit submitted by the candidates prior to the 2016 assembly elections and bye-elections conducted thereafter. It takes a view of the party they fought with and does not consider the defections.

The report has analysed details of 204 out of 234 sitting MLAs, as 4 seats are vacant in the current assembly and 26 MLAs are not analysed due to unclear affidavits available on the website of the Election Commission of India.

Crorepati legislators

Among the 204 sitting MLAs analysed, 157 were crorepati, says the ADR report.

Going party-wise, the data reveals that All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) had 76 crorepatis out of 109 elected legislators. For Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) it was 74 out of 86 sitting MLAs; Congress 5 out of 7 and one MLA each from Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and Independent.

DMK MLA from Anna Nagar constituency, Mohan MK had the highest declared assets worth more than Rs 170 crore (Rs 1,70,97,31,016). He was followed by another DMK MLA from the Alangulam seat, Dr. Poongothai Aladi Aruna, whose total assets amounted to over Rs 37 crore (Rs 37,53,88,959).

R Gandhi of DMK had the highest declared liability worth more than Rs 17 crore (Rs 17,33,04,650).

The average assets per sitting MLA are Rs 6.05 crore. In terms of average assets, DMK tops the list with Rs 9.49 crore, while AIADMK and Congress had Rs 3.49 crore and Rs 3.73 crore respectively.

Criminal cases

In the current assembly, 68 out of 204 sitting MLAs analysed have declared criminal cases against themselves. This ran through party lines. This makes up around 33 percent of all the legislators.

Among 86 sitting DMK MLAs, 40 had criminal cases against them. This was against 23 out of 109 AIADMK MLAs, 4 out of 7 Congress MLAs, and one independent MLA.

Out of the 68 MLAs with criminal cases, 38 had declared serious charged against them. These included murder, attempt to murder, a crime against women, etc. Serious criminal cases are non-bailable offences with over five years of imprisonment.

Among 86 sitting DMK MLAs, 22 had serious criminal cases against them. This was against 13 out of 109 AIADMK MLAs, 2 out of 7 Congress MLAs, and one independent MLA.

Education

A total of 110 MLAs out of 204 sitting MLAs analysed had an educational qualification equivalent to graduate or above. This amounts to 54 percent of the legislators.

As many as 89 MLAs – 44 percent – declared their qualification to be between 5th pass and 12th pass. There were 3 MLAs who were diploma holders, one MLA was just literate and one did not declare his education.

Age

Out of the analysed MLAs, 78 have declared their age to be between 25 and 50 years while 126 MLAs have declared to be between 51 and 70 years. One MLA has declared his age as 77 years.

Gender representation

In the West Bengal, only eight percent of legislators are female. This means out of 204 MLAS analysed in this report, 187 are men while only 17 are women.