NEW DELHI: Ahead of the Bihar polls, a new report based on an assessment of the affidavits submitted by the present MLAs prior to the 2020 assembly polls and details submitted in byelections conducted thereafter has revealed that of 241 MLAs (out of total 243) under consideration, 158 (66%) had declared that criminal cases were pending against themselves.The analysis was done by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and the Bihar Election Watch.As for their financial status, 80% (194) of the MLAs were crorepatis. The total assets of the 241 MLAs added up to Rs 1,121.6 crore. When it came to education, 82 (34%) MLAs had declared their educational qualification to be between 5th and 12th standard while 149 (62%) MLAs declared having an educational qualification of graduate or above.Age-related data showed 119 (49%) MLAs had declared their age to be between 25 and 50 years, while 122 (51%) MLAs were between 51 and 80 years. Out of the 241 MLAs under consideration, just 29 (12%) MLAs were women.The assessment of financial background data in terms of party affiliation showed that 72 (87%) out of 83 MLAs of BJP were crorepatis. As many as 63 (88%) out of 72 MLAs of RJD and 39 (83%) out of 47 MLAs of JDU had declared assets valued at more than Rs 1 crore. The number of crorepatis was 13 (76%) out of 17 MLAs for Congress, 2 (50%) out of 4 MLAs for Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular), 1 (50%) out of 2 MLAs for CPI(M), 1 (50%) out of 2 MLAs for CPI, 1 (9%) out of 11 MLAs for CPI(ML)(L) and 2 (100%) out of 2 Independent MLAs. It turns out that the average of assets per sitting MLA is Rs 4.7 crore.The report carried a caveat that there may be some changes in the number of criminal cases pending as of date against some MLAs. Also, it was explained that 2 MLAs – BJP’s Ram Surat Kumar representing Aurai and JDU’s Prahlad Yadav representing Suryagarha – had not been considered due to unavailability of their properly scanned and complete affidavits at the time of preparation of the report.
