GUWAHATI: Over 56 per cent of MLAs in Assam, including Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and NEDA convenor Himanta Biswa Sarma, have assets worth over Rs 1 crore, as per a latest report.
The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Assam Election Watch (AEW) have analysed the asset details of 119 out of 126 sitting MLAs and found that 67 are crorepatis.
Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) MLA Naren Sonowal is the richest member of the House, owning movable and immovable assets 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 17.23 crore) and AIUDF's Abdur Rahim Ajmal (Rs 13.11 crore), while the poorer ones are AIUDF's Mamun Imdadul Haque Chawdhury (Rs 6.35 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 assets worth Rs 6.38 crore.
BJP state president Ranjeet Kumar Dass owns Rs 2.32 crore worth of assets, while Leader of Opposition Debabrata Saikia of Congress has assets of Rs 4.55 crore.
The ADR-AEW report analysed that 58 per cent of BJP's existing MLAs are crorepatis, while 55 per cent of Congress legislators own assets worth more than Rs 1 crore.
The highest number of crorepati MLAs is from the AGP at 77 per cent, followed by 58 per cent members of the BPF and 36 per cent legislators of AIUDF.
The report said that the average assets per MLA is Rs 2.47 crore.
Analysing the trend, ADR-AEW said only 12 per cent MLAs were crorepatis in 2006 and it increased to 37 per cent in 2011.
In the 126-member Assam Assembly, currently six seats are lying vacant and the analysis is based on the candidates' affidavits prior to the 2016 elections and by-elections conducted thereafter.
"One MLA namely Mansing Rongpi of BJP is not analysed due to unclear affidavit available on the ECI website at the time of making this report," the ADR-AEW said.