Assets of re-contesting MLAs in UP soar by 82% in 5 years: ADR

New Delhi: The average assets of 311 MLAs re-contesting in Uttar Pradesh went up by Rs 2.84 crore -- roughly an increase of 82 percent -- in the last five years, says a report.

The average assets of the 311 re-contesting MLAs from various parties in 2012 was Rs 3.49 crore while this year it stood at Rs 6.33 crore, a report by think-tank Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) said on Tuesday.

"The average assets of these 311 re-contesting MLAs, between the Uttar Pradesh elections of 2012 and 2017, have increased by Rs 2.84 crore," it said.

As per the analysis, which was jointly done by Uttar Pradesh Election Watch and ADR, BSP's Shah Alam Urf Guddu Jamali saw the highest growth in assets from 2012 to 2017, an increase by over Rs 64 crore, followed by Nawab Kazim Ali Khan at Rs 40 crore, also from BSP, and SP's Anup Kumar Gupta Rs 35 crore.

On party-wise analysis, ADR said SP's 162 MLAs' average assets increased by over Rs 2 crore while that of BSP's 57 MLAs by over Rs 4 crore.

It further said BJP's 55 MLAs' average assets increased by more than Rs 2 crore and the same for the Congress' 19 MLAs read over Rs 2 crore.