In Jharkhand, a recent report shows that 89% of the new Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) are very wealthy, commonly referred to as “crorepatis.” This means they have assets worth over ₹1 crore. There are 14 MLAs with debts of ₹1 crore or more. The wealthiest MLA is Rameshwar Oraon from the Congress party, who has declared assets totaling ₹42.20 crore.
On average, a winning candidate in the 2024 elections had assets worth ₹6.90 crore, which is a big jump from ₹3.87 crore in the 2019 elections. The report analyzed the papers of 80 out of the 81 winning candidates, finding that 71 of them are crorepatis.
Breaking it down, there are 28 crorepati MLAs from the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), 20 from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), 14 from Congress, 4 from the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), 2 from the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation, and one each from the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), Janata Dal (United), and Ajsu Party. This means the new assembly has 20% more crorepati MLAs than in 2019. Back then, there were 56 crorepatis, compared to 41 in 2014.
The second richest MLA this time is Kushwaha Shashi Bhushan Mehta, who has ₹32.15 crore in assets, and the third is Sanjay Prasad Yadav from RJD, with ₹29.59 crore.
The report also shows that 42 of the new MLAs increased their average wealth by ₹2.71 crore in the last five years. In terms of education, out of the winning candidates, 28 have said they finished between Class 8 and Class 12. Fifty of them are graduates or have higher qualifications. One MLA has a diploma, and another said he is “literate.”
Leave a Reply