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Meghalaya assembly has 36 crorepatis and a criminal

March 02, 2013 16:24 IST

The data provided by the Association for Democratic Reforms states that out of thes 60 members of Legislative Assembly, 36 (or 60 per cent) are crorepatis.

In the 2008 assembly elections, 15 out of 60 MLAs analysed (or 25 per cent) were crorepatis. The average asset per MLA in the Meghalaya 2013 Assembly Elections is Rs 7.77 crore.

In 2008 Meghalaya Assembly Elections for the 60 MLAs analysed, the average asset per MLA was Rs 1.12 crore.

Among major parties, the average asset per MLA for Indian National Congress (29 MLAs) is Rs 12.35 crore, for United Democratic Party (8 MLAs) is Rs 6.73 crore, for National People’s Party (2 MLAs) is Rs 3.52 crore, for Hill State People's Democratic Party (4 MLAs) is Rs 52.65 lakh, for Nationalist Congress Party (2 MLAs) is Rs 3.26 crores, for North East Socialist Democratic (1 MLA) is Rs 13.01 crore and for Garo National Council (1 MLA) is Rs 42.12 lakh.

The average asset per Independent MLA (13 MLAs) is Rs 1.94 crore. In 2008, the average asset per MLA for INC (25 MLAs) was Rs. 98 Lakhs, for UDP (11 MLAs) was Rs. 2.59 crores and for NCP (15 MLAs) was 68 lakh.

The top three MLAs with highest declared assets are (in decreasing order): Ngaitlang Dhar of the INC from Umroi (ST) constituency who has declared assets worth Rs 235.64 crore, followed by Metbah Lyngdoh of the UDP from Mairang (ST) constituency with Rs 37.29 crore worth of assets and Comingone Ymbon of INC from Raliang (ST) constituency with assets worth Rs 25.48 crore. (Please find later in the report the list of top 20 newly elected MLAs with highest declared assets from the Meghalaya 2013 assembly elections)

Only 5 MLAs have declared assets less than Rs 25 lakh. Michael T Sangma an Independent MLA from Tikrikilla(ST) constituency has declared that he has assets worth only Rs.6.47 lakh, followed by Embhahlang Syiemlieh of the UDP from Mawlai(ST) constituency with assets worth only Rs 9.86 lakh and Kenethson R Sangma of INC from Dalu(ST) constituency with assets worth Rs 17.67 lakh.

Chances of Winning based on assets: Among the candidates with assets of Rs 5 crore and above 13 have got elected out of 30 who contested, which means that if a candidate has Rs 5 crore and more the chances of his winning the election is 43 per cent.

But chances of winning drops to only 4 per cent if a candidate has assets less than Rs 25 lakh, as only 5 candidates out of 116 with assets less than Rs 25 lakh have managed to win their elections.

Lakhpati candidates win over crorepati candidates: Despite the overwhelming number of crorepati MLAs in the Meghalaya assembly. In 16 constituencies, Lakhpati candidates have emerged as winners, defeating higher asset crorepati candidates in their respective constituencies.

Vicky Nanjappa