Chennur (SC) MLA Gaddam Vivekanand of the Congress is the richest among the winning contestants in the Telangana Assembly elections.
Around 69 percent of the 119 winning candidates in the Telangana Assembly elections have criminal cases registered against them.
Meanwhile, almost all of them — around 96 percent, to be more precise — have assets worth at least ₹1 crore, with the average assets of all 119 winners coming to ₹38.88 crore.
According to a report released by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) on Wednesday, 6 December, 82 of the 119 winning candidates are millionaires in dollar terms.
A millionaire in dollar terms will have assets worth a little more than ₹8.33 crore, given the current exchange rate.
Seventy-three of the total have declared that they had been named in ongoing criminal cases, according to the report.
The ADR, along with Telangana Election Watch, also analysed the educational qualifications and other details of the sitting MLAs.
The analysis is based on the affidavits submitted by the winning candidates along with nomination papers to the Election Commission of India (ECI) ahead of the 2023 Assembly elections.
Out of the 119 candidates who won the recent Telangana Assembly elections, 82 candidates (around 69 percent, or more than two out of three) declared criminal cases against themselves.
Winning candidates with criminal cases.
In comparison, 73 MLAs (61 percent, or less than two out of three) from the 2018 Assembly elections had declared criminal cases against themselves.
Several leaders of the BRS have pointed out in the past that many political leaders of Telangana face criminal charges over their participation in the statehood movement.
In absolute terms, the highest number of new MLAs with criminal cases are from Congress — 51 out of 64 winning candidates (around 80 percent). It is followed by the BRS, whose 19 out of 39 winning candidates (just about half) are facing criminal charges.
Next in line is the BJP, whose seven out of eight winning candidates (88 percent) are booked under criminal charges, four out of seven (57 percent) from the All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and CPI’s lone Kothagudem winning candidate K Sambasiva Rao.
Among the 82 winning candidates with criminal charges, 59 (50 percent of the total 119) have declared serious criminal cases — comprising assault, murder, and crimes against women — against themselves.
For example, the Congress’ Nalgonda contestant Vemula Veeresham has been charged in a murder case (under IPC Section 302).
Apart from this, seven winners have attempt-to-murder (IPC Section 307) cases registered against them, and two have been booked for crimes against women.
This includes the Congress’ chief minister-designate Revanth Reddy, who has been booked under IPC Section 354 (assault or force used with intent to outrage a woman’s modesty).
Compare this to the 2018-batch MLAs, of whom 47 (40 percent) declared serious criminal cases against themselves.
Among the 119 winning candidates, 114 (around 96 percent) declared having assets worth more than ₹1 crore. Of them, 60 are from the Congress, followed by 38 from the BRS.
Crorepati winning candidates
Of the remaining 16, eight are from the BJP, seven from the AIMIM, and the last is the CPI’s Sambasiva Rao.
The top three spots in terms of assets are occupied by Congress candidates. Gaddam Vivekanand from the Chennur (SC) constituency is on top, with declared assets of over ₹606 crore.
He is followed by business tycoon and Munugode contestant Komatireddy Raj Gopal Reddy (assets worth over ₹458 crore), and Palair candidate P Srinivasa Reddy (assets worth over ₹433 crore).
Incidentally, Vivekanand has also listed liabilities worth over ₹41 crore, while Janardhan Reddy has liabilities of over ₹43 crore against his name.
The list also includes names of former chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao in the fourth spot with liabilities worth over ₹24 crore and his son, former IT minister KT Rama Rao, with liabilities worth over ₹11 crore. He sits at the 10th spot among the candidates with the most liabilities.
Telangana Congress president Revanth Reddy declared assets worth over ₹30 crore.
Highest asset
Meanwhile, the average assets of a Congress candidate comes to over ₹48 crore, while that of the BRS is ₹32 crore.
Among the rest, the average assets of a winning BJP candidate is ₹21 crore, and the AIMIM candidate ₹13 crore. The CPI’s Rao’s assets are worth ₹2 crore.
Topping the list of least assets is the Congress’ Khanapur (ST) MLA Vedma Bhojju, with assets worth just over ₹24 lakh.
He is followed by two other Congress MLAs — B Naik Nenavath (Devarakonda-ST) with over ₹28 lakh and Adinarayana Jare (Aswaraopeta-ST) with over ₹56 lakh.
Educational qualifications of Telangana MLAs.
A total of 72 of the 119 winning candidates are at least graduates, while the educational qualifications of 40 contestants range between classes 5 and 12.
Of the remaining, five are diploma holders, while two declared themselves as being “just literate”.
In terms of age, 23 winning candidates (19 percent) are aged between 25 and 50, while 96 MLAs (81 percent) are between 51 and 80.
In gender terms, only 10 of the 119 winning candidates are women. That is around 8 percent of the total.
Yet, it is four more than the number of woman candidates in the 2018 Telangana Assembly — a total of five percent.
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