New Delhi: In the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, where infiltration of criminals has increased the on one hand in Uttar Pradesh, the financial status of the lawmakers has been on a constant rise on the other. After being elected MP and MLA, their assets continue to grow manifold.

Among the MPs, Union Ministers Maneka Gandhi, Congress president Rahul Gandhi, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Samajwadi Party’s founder Mulayam Singh Yadav have seen their worth grow manifold.

Further, worths of legislators like Mukhtar Ansari and Durga Prasad Yadav have been on the rise. By the time these millionaire netas go for their third election, their average property would increase by more than Rs 6 crore each.

The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has released a report based on the criminal and financial statements of MLAs and MPs in the Lok Sabha and three Assembly elections in the Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha from 2004 to 2019.

Founder-member of ADR Professor Trilochan Shastri and Uttar Pradesh coordinator Sanjay Singh made the report public on Friday. It’s an analysis of the 19,971 candidates contesting Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in the state since 2004. In its affidavit, 38% of the 1,443 MPs and MLAs have declared the criminal cases they face. Among them, 328 or 23% face serious cases.

Affidavits of a few MPs and legislators could not be analysed. In 2007, the average assets of 31 MLAs, including independents, was worth Rs 1.24 crore, which increased to Rs 3.87 crores in 2012. The assets of these MLAs, who were again elected in 2017, increased to an average of a whopping Rs 7.74 crore. Assets have increased by an average of Rs 6 crore.

Rahul, Sonia, Maneka and Mulayam's massive assets

The ADR analysed further the details of the properties of five MPs who were elected several times. According to the election affidavits between 2004 and 2014, the worth of Maneka Gandhi's property has seen the highest spike: Rs 30 crore. The worth increased by Rs 14 crore for Mulayam Singh Yadav, Rs 8 crore for Rahul Gandhi, Rs 8 crore for Sonia Gandhi and Rs 2 crore for Braj Bhushan Saran in 10 years.

Union minister Maneka Gandhi had assets worth Rs 6 crore 67 lakh in 2004. It went up to Rs 18 crore 28 lakh in 2009 and, by 2014, it reached Rs 37 crore.

SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav had a net worth of Rs 1 crore 15 lakh, which went up to Rs 2 crore 23 lakh and finally hit Rs 15 crore 96 lakh.

Congress president and Amethi MP Rahul Gandhi had an average asset of Rs 55 lakh 38 thousand rupees in 2004, which increased to Rs 2 crore 32 lakh in 2009 and went up to Rs 9 crore 40 lakh in 2014.

UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, who is also the Rae Bareli MP, had Rs 85 lakh 68 thousand property in 2004. That worth went up to Rs 1 crore 37 lakh in 2009 and finally hit worth of Rs 9 crore 28 lakhs in 2014.

Meanwhile, Kaiserganj MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh had assets worth Rs 3 crore 28 lakh in 2004. It went up to Rs 5 crore 35 lakh and in 2009 it reached worth of Rs 6 crore 16 lakh in 2014.

60% MPs, MLAs millionaires

Since 2004, out of 1,443 MPs and MLAs, 864 have turned millionaires. Among them, 43% are of the BSP, 73% of the BJP, 58% each of the Congress and the SP — who have seen such a spike in their income. As many as 64% of RLD's MP and MLA have turned millionaires, says the ADR report.

Most criminal cases against SP lawmakers

According to the affidavits filed by SP MLAs and MPs, the highest criminal cases are recorded against the SP, BJP, Congress and BSP legislators in that order.

In the elections held since 2004, out of 430 MPs and MLAs of the SP, 179 or 42% of them had criminal cases running against them.

180 out of 486 BJP lawmakers — that makes it 37% — 31 out of 89 Congress (35%), 120 out of 354 BSP lawmakers (34%) have criminal cases registered against them. Among them, the most serious criminal cases are registered against 25 percent of the BJP's leaders, 21 percent of SP and Congress party. 14 percent of RLD lawmakers face serious criminal charges.

Mukhtar Ansari has the highest assets among MLAs

BSP legislator Mukhtar Ansari is the richest among the MLAs. In 2007, the worth of properties of Ansari was Rs 82,19978, which increased to Rs 30,78,888 in 2012. In 2017, the average worth of a property of Mukhtar Ansari was Rs 21 crore 88 lakh 57 thousand 273 rupees. In 2017, Mukhtar won on a BSP ticket and, before that, he contested from his own party Quami Ekta Dal.

At number two is Azamgarh's SP MLA Durga Prasad Yadav. In 2007, Durga had Rs 1 crore 4 lakh. It increased to Rs 2 crore 56 lakh in 2012 and Rs 17 crore 90 lakh in 2017.

The third in the list is the current industrial development minister Satish Mehana, who won consecutive elections on BJP ticket from Maharajpur in Kanpur. His worth has increased from Rs 3 crore 48 lakh in 2007 to Rs 7 crore 26 lakh.