Bengaluru: The Organization for Democratic Reforms (ADR) regularly conducts research on the educational qualifications and financial resources of members of the Legislative Assembly, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
With the Karnataka Assembly elections approaching, a study published on the MLAs of the state states:
Out of the total 224 MLAs in Karnataka, 219 were studied on their educational qualifications, financial resources and criminal background. Among them, 35 per cent MLAs have serious criminal cases pending, the affidavit said.
30 percent of MLAs belong to BJP. Criminal cases are pending against 49 of the 112 MLAs of the BJP, 16 of the 67 MLAs of the Congress, 9 of the 30 MLAs of the secular Janata Dal and 2 of the 4 independent MLAs. Among them, there are very serious criminal cases against 35 BJP MLAs, 13 Congress MLAs and 8 secular Janata Dal MLAs.
118 MLAs in BJP: More than 95 percent of MLAs are millionaires. Out of 118 BJP MLAs, 112 are billionaires. An average MLA’s net worth is Rs 29.85 crore.
The average net worth of Congress MLAs is Rs 48.58 crore. Current Congress state president and Kanakapura constituency MLA T.K. Sivakumar’s property value is Rs.840 crores. Next to him is B.S. Suresh has a net worth of Rs 416 crore and M. Krishnappa has a net worth of Rs 236 crore.
The average net worth of MLAs of the secular Janata Dal is Rs 4.34 crore. The property value of 4 independent MLAs is Rs.40.92 crore. 73 of the Karnataka MLAs, i.e. 33 per cent, have only 12th standard education. 140 MLAs are graduates. Only 2 are Ph.D. This is stated in the thesis.
