71% increase in the average assets of re- contesting MLAs in Madhya Pradesh, reveals study

The average assets of  Madhya Pradesh MLA's who are re-contesting increased by Rs 3.64 crores, revealed a study. Madhya Pradesh Election Watch (MPEW) and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) said in their press release that the assets of the 167 MLAs who are re-contesting increased from 5.15 crores in 2013 to Rs 8.79 crores in 2018.

According to the report, of the 167 MLAs re-contesting, 107 are from BJP and 53 are from Congress. There are also four BSP, one SP and two independent candidates trying to get re-elected.

As per the report, the re-contesting legislators have experienced an overall 71 percent increase in their assets. While BJP legislators saw their assets increased by nearly 85 percent from 2013’s Rs 4.6 crores to Rs 8.5 crore in 2018 , those of Congress MLAs re-contesting increased by close to 50 percent from over Rs 6 crore in 2013 to over Rs 9 crore in 2018.

However the asset increase was the highest among the MLAs who fought on SP and BSP tickets.

As per the study, average assets of the four re-contesting BSP MLAs increased around 140 percent from Rs 3.22 crores in 2013 to Rs 7.74 crores in 2018. Similarly, the sole SP member who will be re-contesting saw a three-fold increase in his assets. As per the study, the assets of the SP MLA increased from Rs 42 lakhs in 2013 to Rs 1.7 crores in 2018.

The lowest increase was among the two independent candidates, whose average assets increased from 2013’s Rs 2.5 crore to Rs 2.8 crores in 2018.