Money Power in Election in India vis-à-vis Electoral Reforms to curb the menace
- Part 3 -

Yumnam Premananda Singh *

– A case study in 2012 Election of U.P., Uttarakhand, Goa, Punjab and Manipur

Analysis of Financial details of Newly Elected MLAs of the Punjab Assembly Elections in 2012

Punjab Legislative Assembly consists of 117 MLAs.

Crorepati Count:

The number of crorepati MLAs has increased from 77 (66%) in Punjab 2007 Assembly Elections to 101 (86%) in Punjab Assembly, 2012. Out of 101 crorepati MLAs in Panjab 2012 Assembly, 47 are from SAD, 41 from INC, 10 from BJP and 3 are independent MLAs. The following table shows the details of crorepati picture in Punjab Assembly in 2012:

Party	Total MLAs	Crorepatis MLAs	% of crorepati MLAs
SAD	56	47	84%
INC	46	41	89%
BJP	12	10	83%
IND	3	3	100%
Total	117	101	86%

Table : Crorepati MLAs – party wise break up[6]

Assets details:

Among major parties, the average asset per MLA for INC is Rs. 13.97 crores, for SAD is Rs. 7.93 crores, and for BJP is Rs. 4.68 crores and average asset for a MLA from Punjab is Rs. 9.92 crores.

A total of 10 MLAs have declared their liabilities above 2 crores.

ITR and PAN details:

Out of 117 MLAs analyzed, 12 MLAs (10.3%) have not filed ITR. Among them, Karan Kaur of INC has the highest assets of approximately 128.43 crores followed by Ramanjit Singh Sikki of INC with assets worth over 20.12 crores. Out of 117 MLAs 4(3%) have not declared their PAN details.

II
Analysis of Newly Elected MLAs of 2012 Assembly Elections in Uttarakhand, U.P., Goa, Punjab and Manipur – A Comparative Study[7]

Crorepati Contest:

A total of 457 MLAs out of 690 i.e. 66 % of the total number of MLAs elected in the 5 states of Uttarahkand, UP, Goa, Punjab and Manipur) are crorepatis. Goa has the maximum percentage (93%) of MLAs who are crorepatis, followed by Punjab with 86% of MLAs who are croropatis and 67% of MLAs of UP. The following table gives the clear picture of the crorepati of 5 States:

State	Total MLAs Analyzed	Crorepatis	% of Crorepati of MLAs
Uttarakhand	70	32	46%
UP	403	271	67%
Goa	40	37	93%
Punjab	117	101	86%
Manipur	60	16	27%
Total	690	457	66%

Table: State wise crorepati MLAs[8]

Assets comparison:

Goa has the highest average of asset increase (Rs 4.47 crores) of MLAs who recontested i.e. from Rs 2.91 crores in 2007 to Rs 7.65 crores in 2012 (163% increase), followed by Punjab with average asset increase of Rs 3.43 crores (from Rs 5.73 crores in 2007 to Rs 9.17 crores in 2012, 60% increase) and UP with average asset increase of Rs 2.12 crores (from Rs 98.05 lakhs in 2007 to Rs 3.10 crores in 2012, 217% increase).

ITR and PAN details comparison:

A total of 165 MLAs (24%) have declared that they never filed Income Tax Returns (ITR). Among these 5 States Manipur has the maximum percentage (43%) of MLAs who have not filed income tax, followed by Uttarakhand and UP with 27% of MLAs who not filed income tax.

Out of the 690 MLAs,235 have not given their PAN details. State-wise details of MLAs who have not declared their PAN are displayed by the following table:

State	Total No of MLAs Analyzed	No of MLAs not declared their PAN	% of MLAs not declared their PAN
Uttar Pradesh	403	127	32%
Punjab	117	28	24%
Uttarakhand	70	26	37%
Manipur	60	49	82%
Goa	40	5	13%
TOTAL	690	235	34%

Table: MLAs who have not declared their PAN[9]

Out of the above 165 MLAs who have never filed IT returns, 67 have not even given their PAN details. They include 43% of MLAs from Manipur followed by 27% each from UP and Uttarakhand, 10% MLAs from Punjab and 3% MLAs from Goa.

Asset Comparison of newly elected MLAs (who also contested in 2007) in 5 Assemblies

o The maximum percentage growth is the assets of the newly elected MLAs (who also contested in 2007) of Manipur with 492% followed by UP at 217%.

o Goa has the highest average asset increase (Rs. 4.74 crores) of MLAs who recontested i.e. from Rs. 2.91 crores in 2007 to Rs. 7.65 crores in 2012 (163% increase), followed by Punjab with average asset increase of Rs. 3.43 crores (from Rs. 5.73 crores in 2007 to Rs. 9.17 crores in 2012, 60% increase) and UP with average asset increase of Rs. 2.12 crores (from Rs. 98.05 lacs in 2007 to Rs. 3.10 crores in 2012, 217% increase).

State	Total Number of MLAs	Average Assets in 2012	Average Assets in 2007	Average Asset Increase	Average % Increase in Asset
Uttarakhand	50	2,30,46,876 (2 Crore +)	83,34,174 (83 Lacs +)	1,47,12,701 (1 Crore +)	177%
UP	230	3,10,70,601 (3 Crore+)	98,05,199 (98 Lac)	2,12,65,402 (2 Crore+)	271%
Goa	29	7,65,85,725 (7 Crore+)	2,91,53,038 (2 Crore+)	4,74,32,686 (4 Crore+)	163%
Punjab	74	9,17,19,055 (9 Crore+)	5,73,59,031 (5 Crore)	3,43,60,023 (3 Crore+)	60%
Manipur	35	1,18,45,767 (1 Crore+)	20,02,492 (20 Lacs+)	98,43,274 (98 Lacs+)	492%

Table : Asset comparison of Re-contested MLAs of 5 assemblies[10]

To be continued....

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* Yumnam Premananda Singh wrote this article for e-pao.net
The writer is Assistant Professor of Law, Govt. Mizoram Law College, Aizawl and can be reached at lawprem(aT)yahoo(dot)com
This article was posted on October 03 2015.

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