As many as 40 – or 22% – of the 182 members of the new Gujarat assembly have declared criminal cases against themselves, according to an analysis by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR). The number has come down from 47 or 26% in the previous assembly.

As many as 29 (16%) winning candidates have declared serious criminal cases against themselves. Three have declared cases of attempt to murder (IPC Section-307), four have declared cases related to crimes against women – one has declared case related to rape (IPC Section-376).

The analysis, released Monday, is based on the self-sworn affidavits filed by them at the time of candidature. The full analysis is available here: https://adrindia.org/content/analysis-criminal-background-financial-education-gender-and-other-details-winning-3

In party terms, 26 (17%) of the 156 BJP MLAs, 9 (53%) of the 17 Congress members, 2 (40%) of the 5 AAP legislators, 2 of the 3 Independents and the 1 SP winning candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

Financial Background

* 151 (83%) MLAs in the new House are crorepatis, up from 141 (77%) of the 2017 winners.  

* 132 (85%) out of 156 from BJP, 14(82%) out of 17 from INC, 1 (20%) out of 5 from AAP, 1 (100%) from SP, and 3 (100%) Independent winning candidates have declared assets worth more than Rs. 1 crore.

* The average of assets per winning candidates in the Gujarat assembly elections 2022 is Rs 16.41 crore. The average of assets per MLA in the Gujarat Assembly Elections 2017 was Rs 8.46 crore.

* High asset winning candidates: The top three:

1 Jayantibhai Somabhai Patel, Mansa constituency, BJP, total assets: Rs 661 crore+
    
2 Balvantsinh Chandansinh Rajput, Sidhpur constituency, BJP, total assets: Rs 372 crore+
    
3 Rameshbhai Virjibhai Tilala, Rajkot South constituency, BJP, total assets: Rs 175 crore+

* Winning candidates with high liabilities: 40 winning candidates have declared liabilities of Rs 1 crore and above. The top 3 are:

1 Jayantibhai Somabhai Patel, liabilities: Rs 233 crore+
    
2 Dharmendrasinh Ranubha Vaghela (Bapu), Vaghodia constituency, Independent, liabilities: Rs 27 crore+
    
3 Mavjibhai Maganbhai Desai, Dhanera constituency, Independent, liabilities; Rs. 18 crore+
    
Other Background Details

* 86 (47%) winning candidates have declared their educational qualification to be between 5th pass and 12th pass, while 83 (46%) winning candidates have declared having an educational qualification of graduate and above. There are 7 winning candidates who have declared themselves as just literates and 6 winning candidates are diploma holders.

* 62 (34%) winning candidates have declared their age to be between 25 and 50 years while 120 (66%) winning candidates have declared their age to be between 51 and 80 years.

* 15 (8%) winning candidates are women. In 2017, 13 (7%) MLAs were women.

* Number of re-elected MLAs analysed in the Gujarat assembly elections of 2022 is 74.