89 Per Cent Of Newly Elected MLAs In Jharkhand Are Crorepatis: Report

Eighty-nine per cent of the newly elected MLAs in Jharkhand are crorepatis, and 14 new MLAs have liabilities worth ₹1 crore and above, a new report by the Jharkhand Election Watch and the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has found.

The richest among them is Rameshwar Oraon of the Congress from Lohardaga constituency, who declared total assets worth ₹42.20 crore. The average asset of a winning candidate in Jharkhand in 2024 is ₹6.90 crore, up from ₹3.87 crore in the 2019 elections.

The organisations analysed the election affidavits of 80 out of 81 winning candidates and found that 71 newly elected MLAs in 2024 are crorepatis.

Of the 71 crorepati MLAs, 28 are from the JMM, 20 from the BJP, 14 from the Congress, four from the RJD, two from the CPI(ML) Liberation and one each from the LJP (Ram Vilas), JD(U) and AJSU Party.

Thus, the new Jharkhand assembly will have 20 per cent more crorepati MLAs than in 2019. According to the report, 56 MLAs were ‘crorepatis’ in 2019, compared to 41 in the 2014 legislative assembly.

The second richest candidate is Kushwaha Shashi Bhushan Mehta from the Panki constituency, with declared assets worth ₹32.15 crore. Sanjay Prasad Yadav of the RJD from the Godda seat is the third on the list with total assets of ₹29.59 crore, the report said.

Jharkhand Loktantrik Krantikari Morcha’s (JLKM) Jairam Kumar Mahato, who won the Dumri seat, has the lowest assets worth around ₹2.55 lakh.

Among the newly elected MLAs, 42 have seen their average assets grow by ₹2.71 crore over the last five years, the report stated.

Regarding educational qualifications, 28 winning candidates have declared their qualifications to be between Class 8 and 12 pass. 50 among them are graduates and above. One MLA is a diploma holder, and another declared himself “literate.”

The number of winning women candidates in the state assembly increased to 12 from 10.