New Delhi: When it comes to having billionaires in India's parliament, the upper Rajya Sabha has apparently no dearth of it. Nearly one in eight Rajya Sabha MPs belong to that class of the affluent, says a study. According to it, out of the 225 sitting RAjya Sabha members, 27 are billionaires.
Six of them are from the BJP, says the report released on Friday which also revealed that the average assets of the Rajya Sabha MPS were Rs 80.93 crore, said the report released by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch (NEW).
The report said that it has analyzed and updated also the criminal background details of 225 out of 233 Rajya Sabha MPs. It further said that in the current Rajya Sabha, one seat is vacant while three MPs have not been analysed as their affidavits were unavailable and four seats of Jammu and Kashmir are undefined.
The report said: Out of the 225 sitting Rajya Sabha MPs analysed, 27 (12 per cent) are billionaires.
The report also said that the BJP has the maximum number of billionaries with assets worth more than Rs 100 crore followed by Congress and YSRCP.
The BJP has six (7 per cent) out of 85 billionaire Rajya Sabha MPs; four (13 per cent) out of 30 Congress Rajya Sabha MPs; four (44 per cent) out of nine RS MPs from YSRCP; three (30 per cent) out of 10 RS MPs from AAP; three (43 per cent) out of seven Rajya Sabha MPs from TRS; and two (33 per cent) out of six Rajya Sabha MPs from RJD; who have declared assets valued more than Rs 100 crore, the report said.
It further said that in terms of states, Andhra Pradesh has the maximum number of MPs with assets worth Rs 100 crore, followed by Telangana and Maharashtra.
The report said, “Five (45 per cent) out of 11 MPs from Andhra Pradesh,; three (43 per cent) out of seven MPs from Telangana; three (16 per cent) out of 19 MPs from Maharashtra; one (33 per cent) out of three MPs from Delhi; two (29 per cent) out of seven MPs from Punjab; one (20 per cent) out of five MPs from Haryana; and two (18 per cent) out of 11 MPs from Madhya Pradesh have declared assets worth more than Rs 100 crore."
The report also highlighted that the average assets of Rajya Sabha sitting MPs is Rs 80.93 crore.
(Inputs from IANS)