12% sitting RS MPs are billionaires, most from BJP, says election watchdog

NT Correspondent

New Delhi: About 12 per cent of sitting MPs of Rajya Sabha are billionaires with Andhra Pradesh and Telangana having the highest percentage of such parliamentarians, according to the Association for Democratic Reforms.

The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and the National Election Watch (NEW) have analysed and updated the criminal, financial and other background details of 225 out of 233 Rajya Sabha MPs.

Party-wise, six of the billionaires MPs are of the Bharatiya Janata Party, four each from the Congress and YSR Congress party, three each from the Aam Aadmi Party and Bharat Rashtra Samithi, two each from the Rashtriya Lok Dal and Independents, and three others from the Samajwadi Party, Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar) and Indian Union Muslim League.

According to the report, 5 (45 per cent) out of 11 MPs from Andhra Pradesh, 3 (43 per cent) out of 7 MPs from Telangana, 3 (16 per cent) out of 19 MPs from Maharashtra, 1 (33 per cent) out of 3 MPs from Delhi, 2 (29 per cent) out of 7 MPs from Punjab, 1 (20 per cent) out of 5 MPs from Haryana and 2 (18 per cent) out of 11 MPs from Madhya Pradesh have declared assets worth more than Rs 100 crore.

The total assets of seven Members of Parliament (MPs) analysed from Telangana is Rs 5,596 crore, that of 11 MPs from Andhra Pradesh is Rs 3,823 crore, and 30 MPs analysed from Uttar Pradesh have total assets worth Rs 1,941 crore.

Of 225 Rajya Sabha MPs analysed, 75 (33 per cent) have declared criminal cases against themselves.

Also about 41 (18 per cent) Rajya Sabha MPs have declared serious criminal cases and two have declared cases related to murder (IPC section 302).