PUDUCHERRY: MORE than one-third (11) of the elected members to the Puducherry Legislative Assembly have criminal cases pending against them, according to an analysis by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
The analysis also revealed that four of the 30 MLAs had criminal cases including murder, attempt to murder, theft and bribery pending against them.
The Congress has five MLAs with criminal cases followed by AINRC with three MLAs, DMK with two and AIADMK with one.
An analysis of the assests of 30 MLAs shows that 25 members (83%) are crorepatis as compared to 19 (63%) crorepathi MLAs in 2011.
AINRC MLA Ashok Anand (124 crore) is the richest in the list of members with highest assets followed by Congress MLA A John Kumar (37.85 crore) and another Congress MLA V P Sivakolundhu (29.85 crore). Congress has 13 crorepati MLAs followed by AINRC (eight), AIADMK (four), DMK (two) and an independent MLA.
The average assets of re-elected AINRC MLAs doubled in the last five years while those of Congress and AIADMK increased by one and half times.
AINRC MLAs have an average assets worth `23 crore followed by DMK MLAs with 21.48 crore, Congress MLAs with 9.89 crore and AIADMK MLAs with 5.69 crore.
The average assets of 10 MLAs, who have been re-elected now, stood at 22.64 crore. The analysis also found that three of the MLAs which includes two Congress and one AINRC did not declare income tax details.
Half of the elected members declared that their highest educational qualification was between Class 5 and Class 12. Among the 15 elected members, two MLAs have passed Class 5, three passed Class 8 and seven passed Class 10 and three passed Class 12.
Apart from these 15, an elected member declared that he is an illiterate.
The Assembly also includes a diploma-holder, six graduates, three graduate professionals, three post-graduates and one with a doctorate.
An analysis of the assests of 30 MLAs shows that 25 members (83%) are crorepatis as compared to 19 (63%) crorepati MLAs in 2011
Association for Democratic Reforms
