27 MLAs in new House face criminal charges

Shivani Bhakoo

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, March 15

Of Punjab’s 117 elected MLAs, 27 face criminal cases. And 11 of them face “serious” charges such as murder, attempt to murder, dacoity and robbery, according to a 44-page booklet released by the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR).

The booklet carries details of the legislators’ background, financial status, educational qualification, gender and other details as mentioned by them in the affidavits submitted to the Election Commission.

Partywise, nine of the 77 Congress MLAs, four of AAP’s 20 MLAs, one of the 15 Akali MLAs and both Lok Insaf Party MLAs (Bains brothers) face criminal cases.

In all, 59 MLAs have assets worth over Rs5 crore and 36 of them between Rs1 crore and Rs5 crore. Only eight MLAs have assets less than Rs25 lakh. Those who top the wealth list are Congress’ Rana Gurjit Singh (Rs169 crore), SAD’s Sukhbir Singh Badal (over Rs102 crore) and AAP’s Sukhpal Khaira (over Rs66 crore).

Six MLAs have an annual income of more than Rs1 crore, as declared in their Income Tax returns for 2015-2016). They are Navjot Singh Sidhu of the Congress (Rs9 crore), Aman Arora of AAP (Rs4 crore) and Rana Gurjit Singh of the Congress (Rs2 crore). This time, only six women have been elected to the Vidhan Sabha. Their number in the earlier House was 14.

Three MLAs, all from AAP, have assets worth about Rs3 lakh. They are Rupinder Kaur Ruby (Bhatinda Rural), Kulwant Singh Pandori (Mehal Kalan) and Pirmal Singh Dhaula (Bhadaur). Jaskirat Singh, state coordinator, ADR, said the objective of the booklet was to inform voters what kind of leaders had been fielded.