Ahmedabad: Of the 99 legislators who were re-elected to the Gujarat Assembly, 42 'crore-pati' MLAs have declared a Rs 2 crore-plus increase in assets since 2007.

A report by National Election Watch (NEW) says that around 74 per cent or 134 of 182 MLAs in the newly-elected Assembly have assets of Rs one crore or more. In 2007, only 31 percent MLAs were 'crore-pati'.

The information was gleaned by NEW from the affidavits accompanying the nomination papers.
The average increase in the assets of 65 re-elected BJP MLAs in the last five years was around 177 per cent. The party MLAs' average assets increased by over Rs 4.66 crore: from over Rs 2.62 crore in 2007 to over Rs 7.28 crore in 2012.

In the case of 33 re-elected Congress MLAs, average increase in the assets was 412 per cent. Overall, Congress MLAs' average assets increased by around Rs 5.94 crore: from over Rs 1.44 crore in 2007 to over Rs 7.39 crore in 2012.

Javahar Chavada of Congress, who won from Manavadar, reported a 352 per cent increase in assets at Rs 82,90,21,906, in 2012 from Rs 18,32,36,060 in 2007, an increase of around Rs 64 crore, highest amongst those re-elected.

He is followed by BJP's Dinesh Patel, who won from Padra seat. His assets shot up by Rs 34 crore in 2012 at Rs 39,41,42,438, from Rs 4,51,83,763 in 2007.

For the re-elected MLAs, average increase in assets was Rs 5.06 crore. BJP's Jayanti Kavadia declared the highest rise of 5,525 per cent at Rs 5.91 crore from Rs 10.50 lakh between the elections.

Out of the 115 BJP MLAs, 86, or 75 per cent, are 'crorepatis'. Of 61 Congress MLAs, 43, or 73 per cent, are crorepatis.

An average Congress MLA is richer (Rs 12.36 crore) than his BJP counterpart (Rs 5.82 crore).