All except four MLAs in the newly elected 90-member Haryana assembly are crorepatis and there has been a consistent increase in the number of crorepatis elected to the House over the years, a new report shows.
The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Haryana Election Watch have analysed the self-sworn affidavits of all 90 winning candidates in the Haryana assembly election. The report, published on Wednesday, shows that almost half of the winning candidates — 44 — have assets worth more than Rs 10 crore, including five with assets worth more than Rs 100 crore. Of these five, four are BJP MLAs.
Savitri Jindal, an Independent candidate and the chairperson emeritus of the OP Jindal Group, is the richest MLA in the House with assets worth over Rs 270 crore. BJP MLA Shakti Rani Sharma, MLA from Kalka, has wealth worth Rs 145 crore. BJP’s Tosham MLA Shruti Choudhry is the third-richest with assets worth Rs 134 crore. The next two positions are also occupied by BJP MLAs.
“The average of assets per winning candidate in the Haryana elections is Rs 24.97 crore. The average of assets per MLA in the 2019 polls was Rs 18.29 crore,” it said.
The average assets of MLAs elected to the House has jumped by around four times since 2009.
Among the four MLAs who are not crorepatis, two are from the Congress and two from the BJP. One MLA from each party had assets below Rs 10 lakh. BJP’s Kapoor Singh, elected from Bawani Khera, is the poorest among the MLAs with total assets worth Rs 7 lakh. Fourth from the bottom is BJP’s Bhagwan Dass, elected from Nilokheri, with total assets worth Rs 74.33 lakh.
Congress leader Jarnail Singh from Ratia has assets worth Rs 53.35 lakh, while Devender Hans from Guhla has wealth worth Rs 9.77 lakh, the data shows.
AGE NO BAR
The House has at least 13 MLAs who are above the age of 70, including Beri MLA Raghuvir Singh Kadian from Congress who is 80 years old. At least three MLAs are in the age bracket of 76-79 years; two from BJP and one from Congress.
“A total of 31 (34 per cent) winning candidates have declared their age to be between 25 and 50 years while 59 (66 per cent) winning candidates have declared their age to be between 51 and 80 years.
The youngest among the MLAs is Aditya Surjewala, son of Congress Rajya Sabha MP Randeep Singh Surjewala. The 25-year-old was elected from Kaithal.
Congress MLA from Julana Vinesh Phogat is the second-youngest in the House. The wrestler-turned-politician is 30 years old and along with her, there are 12 more women who made it to the House, as per the report.
“Of 90 winning candidates analysed, 13 (14 per cent) winning candidates are women. In 2019, of 90 MLAs, 9 (10 per cent) were women,” it said.
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