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.
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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.
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“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.