According to an Association for Democratic Reforms report, at least 67% of the 250 newly elected councilors in the MCD are crorepatis.
It stated that 51% of the 266 council members examined in 2017—when 270 wards of the three municipal corporations at the time went to the polls—were crorepatis.
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) now has 250 seats following the delineation of wards earlier this year.
The AAP won 134 seats, limiting the BJP to 104 seats, ending the BJP’s 15-year rule in the MCD, which was divided into north, south, and east corporations in 2012 and unified this year. Only nine seats were gained by the Congress, and three wards went to independent candidates.
“Out of the 248 winning candidates analysed, 167 (67 per cent) are crorepatis. Out of 266 councillors analysed during MCD elections (in) 2017, 135 (51 per cent) councillors were crorepatis,” the report said.
According to the report, the BJP had the greatest number of councillors with assets worth more than one crore (82), out of all the parties.
“…82 (79 per cent) out of 104 from the BJP, 77 (58 per cent) out of 132 from the AAP, 6 (67 per cent) out of nine from the INC (Indian National Congress) and 2 (67 per cent) of three Independent winning candidates have declared assets worth more than ₹1 crore,” the report added.
The Association for Democratic Reforms and Delhi Election Watch analysed the affidavits of 248 of 250 councillors in the MCD elections. Due to the absence of clear and comprehensive affidavits filed with the State Election Commission, Delhi, it was impossible to analyse the assets of the two victorious candidates.
The 132 AAP councillors examined had an average asset value of 3.56 crore, compared to 5.29 crore for the 104 BJP councillors, according to the research.
According to the Association for Democratic Reforms, the nine Congress councillors’ average assets per candidate were 4.09 crore rupees. The combined assets of the three independent council members are 5.53 crore.
Election day was December 4, and the results were made public on Wednesday. VA PTI SZM