The economic disparity among different parts of the country is evident not only in terms of per capita income but also in the income declared by lawmakers, a study by the Association for Democratic Reforms ( ADR) reveals.
An analysis of income details furnished by more than 3,000 MLAs across the country by ADR has found lawmakers in eastern India have the lowest average annual income.
While the average annual income of 3,145 sitting MLAs has been calculated at ₹24.59 lakh, the average income of the eastern region’s 614 MLAs at ₹8.53 lakh, is only a little more than a third of that figure. On the other hand, the income of the 711 MLAs from the southern region, shows their average income at ₹51.99 lakh. This makes the average income declared by the lawmakers from South India, the highest among the country’s regions.
The average annual income of MLAs from western India is ₹28.41 lakh, that of their counterparts from the states of north India is ₹16.29 lakh and the average income of central Indian MLAs is ₹12.65 lakh.
For the northeastern States the average income is ₹9.32 lakh.
“Karnataka’s 204 MLAs analysed have the highest average annual income of ₹111.4 lakh, followed by Maharashtra’s 256 MLAs analysed with average annual income of ₹43.4 lakh,” ADR says in its report.
Among the States with lowest average income declared by its MLAs: Chhattishgarh has recorded the least of ₹5.4 lakh, followed by Jharkhand with average annual income of ₹7.4 lakh. According to ADR, the report primarily focuses on the annual (self) income of the sitting MLAs only.
“ADR and National Election Watch (NEW) have analysed the self-declared affidavits of 3,145 out of 4,086 sitting MLAs. 941 MLAs have not declared their income, thus, have not been included in this report,” ADR said.
