MLAs’ average annual income is Rs 24.59 lakh

New Delhi, September 17

Sitting MLAs across the country have an average annual income of Rs 24.59 lakh, with Karnataka topping the charts with its legislative assembly members earning an average of over Rs 1 crore per annum, a study showed on Monday.

On the other hand, Chhattisgarh MLAs earn the lowest with their average annual income coming at Rs 5.4 lakh, as per the latest report of the Association for Democratic Reforms and the National Election Watch.

The report also showed a huge gender disparity among MLAs with the average income of men being more than double that of the women. It also found that the MLAs who had declared themselves to be illiterate had an average annual self-income of Rs 9.31 lakh. Besides, nearly half of the MLAs have declared their profession as business or agriculture.

The electoral reforms advocacy group said they analysed self-declared affidavits of 3,145 out of 4,086 sitting MLAs across the country. As 941 MLAs have not declared their income, they have not been included in this report, which focuses on the annual self income of the sitting MLAs only.

The southern region, with 711 MLAs, have the highest average annual income of Rs 51.99 lakh, while 614 MLAs in eastern region have the lowest average annual income worth Rs 8.53 lakh.

State-wise, Karnataka’s 203 MLAs analysed have the highest average annual income of Rs 111.4 lakh, followed by Maharashtra’s Rs 43.4 lakh (256 MLAs analysed). Chhattisgarh’s 63 analysed MLAs have the lowest average annual income of Rs 5.4 lakh, followed by Jharkhand’s Rs 7.4 lakh (72 MLAs analysed).

Of 3,145 MLAs analysed, 55 or around 2% have not mentioned about their profession in their affidavits.

Besides, 771 MLAs (25%) have declared business as their profession, and 758 or 24% MLAs as an agriculturist/farmer. The 397 (13%) MLAs who have declared their profession as agriculture/ farming and business have the highest average annual income of Rs 57.81 lakh. — PTI