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Two-third of elected Rajya Sabha members have assets of over Rs 1 crore, suggests a study by the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR). The average asset of these members was around Rs 20 crore.
Among major parties, the average asset of Rajya Sabha MPs from Congress was Rs 16.74 crore, from the Bharaiya Janata Party (BJP) was Rs 8.51 crore, from Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) was Rs 13.82 crore, and from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) it was Rs 39.65 lakh.
Mahendra Prasad of the Janata Dal (United) had highest assets worth Rs 683.56 crore, followed by industrialist Vijaya Mallya, who is an independent member from Karnataka with Rs 615.42 crore, and Jaya Bachchan of Samajwadi Party from Uttar Pradesh with assets worth Rs 493.86 crore.
Another 17% of the MPs from Rajya Sabha had criminal cases against them, while 9% of these were declared “serious”.
Around 84% of the MPs were graduates or with higher educational qualification. About 5% of the MPs had educational qualifications equivalent to 10th pass or below.
The study ignores the eleven nominated candidates in the Rajya Sabha, as they are not required to submit their affidavits.
