More than half of Assam MLAs are crorepatis: Report

Over 56 per cent of MLAs inAssam, including Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and NEDAconvenor Himanta Biswa Sarma, have assets worth over Rs 1crore, as per a latest report.

The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and AssamElection Watch (AEW) have analysed the asset details of 119out of 126 sitting MLAs and found that 67 are crorepatis.

Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) MLA Naren Sonowal is therichest member of the House, owning movable and immovableassets of nearly Rs 34 crore, the report stated.

Sahab Uddin Ahmed of the AIUDF is the poorest MLA,having assets worth Rs 1.82 lakh, it added.

The other richer MLAs are BJP's Narayan Deka (Rs 17.23crore) and AIUDF's Abdur Rahim Ajmal (Rs 13.11 crore), whilethe poorer ones are AIUDF's Mamun Imdadul Haque Chawdhury (Rs6.35 lakh) and BJP's Terash Gowalla (Rs 8.91 lakh).

The chief minister has total assets of Rs 1.85 crore,while senior minister Sarma owns movable and immovable assetsworth Rs 6.38 crore.

BJP state president Ranjeet Kumar Dass owns Rs 2.32crore worth of assets, while Leader of Opposition DebabrataSaikia of Congress has assets of Rs 4.55 crore.

The ADR-AEW report analysed that 58 per cent of BJP'sexisting MLAs are crorepatis, while 55 per cent of Congresslegislators own assets worth more than Rs 1 crore.

The highest number of crorepati MLAs is from the AGPat 77 per cent, followed by 58 per cent members of the BPF and36 per cent legislators of AIUDF.

The report said that the average assets per MLA is Rs2.47 crore.

Analysing the trend, ADR-AEW said only 12 per centMLAs were crorepatis in 2006 and it increased to 37 per centin 2011.

In the 126-member Assam Assembly, currently six seatsare lying vacant and the analysis is based on the candidates'affidavits prior to the 2016 elections and by-electionsconducted thereafter.

''One MLA namely Mansing Rongpi of BJP is not analyseddue to unclear affidavit available on the ECI website at thetime of making this report,'' the ADR-AEW said.