More than two years after the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, 386 of the 403 legislators, including the likes of Chief Minister Mayawati and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, have failed to declare their assets as per the UP Ministers and Legislators (Publication of Assets and Liabilities) Act, 1975.
The act makes it mandatory for members of both houses to declare their assets and liabilities on a prescribed proforma, which has to be submitted to the secretary of the House.
“All newly-elected members are required to make a formal declaration of their assets within three months of their election. However, not more than four out of the 403 MLAs cared to declare their assets in 2007, after the present state assembly was constituted in May, 2007,” an official of the assembly said.
In 2008, only three legislators submitted their declarations and in 2009, the figure was just 10. The Act provides for annual filing of declarations latest by June 27 every year.
The defaulters include state assembly Speaker Sukhdeo Rajbhar, prominent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Lalji Tandon and Congress Legislature Party leader Pramod Tiwari.
