ADR report claims since 2009, assets of 71 MPs grew by 286%
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New Delhi: According to a survey released by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) on Friday, the assets of 71 MPs who were re-elected to the Lok Sabha between 2009 and 2019 increased by a staggering 286 per cent on average, with the BJP's Ramesh Chandappa Jigajinagi seeing the greatest increase. According to the report, which made use of the self-sworn affidavits submitted by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader during the Lok Sabha elections held in the relevant years, the total value of Jigajinagi's assets increased from about Rs 1.18 crore in 2009 to Rs 8.94 crore in 2014, and then to Rs 50.41 crore in 2019. This represents an overall increase of 4,189%.
Re-elected to the Lower House of Parliament for a sixth consecutive term in 2019, the MP from Karnataka's Bijapur served as the Union minister of state for drinking water and sanitation from July 2016 to May 2019 in the previous term of the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
According to the report by ADR-National Election Watch, another BJP MP from Karnataka, PC Mohan, grabbed the second spot in the list of the top 10 members of Parliament who registered an increase in their assets between 2009 and 2019.
Mohan, who was re-elected to the Lok Sabha from the Bengaluru Central constituency in 2019, had declared assets worth about Rs 5.37 crore in the 2009 parliamentary polls. The figure climbed up to Rs 75.55 crore in 10 years, showing an increase of 1,306 per cent, the report noted.
The assets of BJP MP Varun Gandhi, who was re-elected from Uttar Pradesh's Pilibhit for a third consecutive term in the last Lok Sabha election, rose from Rs 4.92 crore in 2009 to Rs 60.32 crore in 2019, the report noted.
According to the report, the assets of Harsimrat Kaur Badal, the Shiromani Akali Dal MP from Bhathinda, went up from Rs 60.31 crore in 2009 to Rs 217.99 crore in 2019, registering a rise of 261 per cent.
"Assets of Supriya Sadanand Sule of the NCP (Nationalist Congress Party) from the Baramati constituency (in Maharashtra) have increased by Rs 89.35 crore (173 per cent), from Rs 51.53 crore in 2009 to Rs 140.88 crore in 2019," the report said.
The assets of Pinaki Misra, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MP from Puri in Odisha, climbed by 296 per cent (Rs 87.78 crore), from Rs 29.69 crore in 2009 to Rs 117.47 crore in 2019, the report added.
It noted that the average assets of the 71 MPs, including independents, was Rs 6.15 crore in 2009.
The report pegged the average growth in their assets from 2009 to 2019 at Rs 17.59 crore, an increase of 286 per cent.
With PTI inputs