Uttarakhand Assembly elections: Assets of legislators increase in last five yrs, says ADR

DEHRA DUN: The average assets of legislators in Uttarakhand have jumped by Rs 1.79 crore during the past five years, a reputed think tank working on electoral reforms has revealed.

A BJP MLA, whose total assets stood at Rs 78 lakh in 2007, has now reached Rs 7.04 crore with a whopping spike of 803 per cent, according to the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

The MLA is followed by a Congress legislator, whose assets have grown to Rs 4.34 crore during the same period.

A BSP MLA is in the third place with an average asset growth of Rs 2.04 crore, the NGO said.

All the three MLAs are now seeking re-election from different seats in the hill state where the Assembly polls will be held on January 30. This year 788 candidates are in the fray for only 70 seats in the state Assembly.

A state minister's total assets stood at at Rs 2.38 lakh in 2007. In the last five years, his assets jumped by 2968 per cent reaching Rs 70 lakh, the sharpest rise among the MLAs during the period.

Twentyfive BJP MLAs from a political party became crorepatis during the last five years with average assets of Rs 1.31 crore, which is an increase of 177 per cent.

MLAs from another party possessed average assets of of Rs 2.22 crore each.