NEW DELHI: The Rajya Sabha includes as many as 31 members, around 14 percent of the total strength, who have declared assets worth billions of rupees. Among them, the ruling BJP has six MPs, the Congress has five, the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) has four, while both the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) have two each. In addition, three MPs from the Nationalist Congress Party have reported assets exceeding Rs 100 crore.
According to a recent report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), approximately 32 per cent of sitting Rajya Sabha MPs have declared criminal cases against themselves, while 14 per cent are billionaires. The report is based on an analysis of affidavits submitted by 229 out of 233 MPs, including 37 newly elected members.
Of the 229 MPs analysed, 73 (32 percent) have declared criminal cases, with 36 (16 percent) facing serious charges. These include one MP charged with murder, four with attempted murder, and three with offences related to crimes against women.
Party-wise, 27 out of 99 BJP MPs, 12 out of 28 Congress MPs, four out of 13 Trinamool Congress MPs, and four out of 10 AAP MPs have declared criminal cases. Additionally, three MPs each from the CPI(M) and BRS have also disclosed criminal cases.
The report further notes that 31 MPs (14 percent) have assets worth billions of rupees. The average declared assets of a Rajya Sabha MP stand at Rs 120.69 crore.
Among major parties, the average assets per MP are Rs 28.29 crore for the BJP, Rs 28.61 crore for Congress, Rs 7.70 crore for the TMC, and Rs 574.09 crore for the AAP. Other parties include YSRCP (Rs 522.63 crore), Samajwadi Party (Rs 399.71 crore), Biju Janata Dal (Rs 105.63 crore), and DMK (Rs 11.90 crore).
BRS MP Bandi Partha Saradhi has declared the highest assets at over Rs 5,300 crore, followed by AAP’s Rajinder Gupta with more than Rs 5,053 crore, and YSRCP’s Alla Ayodhya Rami Reddy with over Rs 2,577 crore. At the other end,
AAP MP Sant Balbir Singh is the least wealthy, with assets of around a mere Rs 3 lakh. He is followed by Maharaja Sanajaoba Leishemba of Manipur with approximately Rs 5 lakh, and TMC MP Prakash Chik Baraik with about Rs 9 lakh.