Saiyada Khatoon is an MLA from Domariaganj. According to reports, she has  stated that she had been invited by the villagers of her constituency to participate in the programme on “Maha Chandi Yagya” on Sunday, and after a Ram Katha ceremony, had decided to visit the temple.

However, it became a contentious issue the next day of even when the chairman of the local panchayat, Dharmaraj Verma, along with other members of various Hindu organisations, performed purification rituals which included sprinkling Gangajal, reciting the Hanuman Chalisa in the temple.

Badhani Chafa’s Nagar Panchayat Chairperson Verma has defended these actions by asserting that the sanctity of the Samya Mata temple had been “compromised” by Khatoon’s visit. He alleged, “Samya Mata Mandir is a centre of faith for devotees. People throng the temple with dedication that was disrespected by the local MLA’s visit. She is non-vegetarian, and her visit affected the sanctity of the place.”

Khatoon has stated, that Verma is associated with the BJP and the Hindu Yuva Vahini.

Domariaganj Circle Officer Sujit Kumar Rai has informed the media that a police team was patrolling the area to prevent any potential flare ups. However, as of now, no formal complaint has been lodged regarding the incident, Rai has affirmed, “We will take appropriate action if a complaint is filed in this regard.”

Rai also confirmed that Khatoon had been invited at the behest of the local villagers. An organising committee for the Ram Katha had been formed by local villagers. The pujari of the temple, Sri Krishna Dutt Shukla has asserted that the SP MLA was invited for the event, she had spoken a few words of about peace and harmony and then left.  Shukla and a pujari named Prasad were part of a committee which had given the invitation to the Samajwadi Party MLA.

The superintendent of Police for Siddharthnagar, Abhishek Kumar Agarwal, stated, “We are inquiring into the incident and keeping a close eye on the development.”

Meanwhile, Saiyada Khatoon has stated that she will not refrain from visiting religious sites of all religion due to these acts.

Related:

Segregation of Eating Spaces: Modern Untouchability in IITs

BJP’s Mirzapur candidate says he does not want “impure votes”

Sanatan debate meant to divert real issues, part of design to turn the clock back

Clash Between Two Notions of Purity: India’s Partition

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A writ petition has been filed in the Bombay High Court challenging the Maharashtra Government notification which established the Family Coordination Committee to monitor inter-faith and inter-caste marriages in Maharashtra.

 The petition filed by Samajwadi Party MLA, Rais Shaikh states that the resolution is discriminatory against a particular religion and is violative of Articles 14 (right to equality), Article 15 (forbidding discrimination), 21 (right to life which includes the right to privacy), and 25.

“That the assumption that adult women who choose and consent to marry someone from another faith need to be ‘saved’ is misplaced and goes against the spirit of the Constitution,” the plea states adding that,  “without the couple having any control on who has access to their private information (GR) is contributory to d ever ongoing campaign of the parents, vigilante groups & society to control the lives of young people who have decided to choose their own partners”

Stating that the resolution is discriminatory against a particular religion and is thus violative of Articles 14 (right to equality), Article 15 (forbidding discrimination), 21 (right to life which includes the right to privacy), and 25 (right to freedom of religion) of the Constitution of India amongst other Articles, the petition filed on March 10 will come up over the next few weeks.

Shaikh alleges in his petition that the government resolution (GR) is the Maharashtra government’s attempt “to discourage and/or forbid inter-faith marriages and is essentially a precursor to laws related to purported love jihad marriages which have been brought in in nine states in India.”

The Maharashtra Government issued the GR on December 13, 2022 following the gruesome murder of Shraddha Walkar in Delhi allegedly by her inter-faith live-in partner and the committee is allegedly meant to provide a platform to ‘counsel, communicate and resolve’ issues between couples and families. According to the GR, the committee can intervene at the behest of any person, which the plea alleges is a breach of the couple’s privacy “especially when two consenting adults are married to each other”.

Significantly, the Petitioner states that the discourse around marriage in India fails to place adult individuals at the centre, and family and societal forces have always played a role in determining young people’s futures.

The GR “without the couple having any control on who has access to their private information is contributory to the ever ongoing campaign of the parents, vigilante groups and society to control the lives of young people who have decided to choose their own partners.”

The plea, filed through advocate Jeet Gandhi, alleges that the GR seeks to create a “regressive” and “false narrative that it is only in interfaith or intercaste marriages that a girl is at risk from her partner.”

It is particularly ultra vires for creating a narrative that inter faith marriages are something out of the ordinary and a rarity, therefore requiring constant scrutiny, the plea states. “No marriage of two consenting adults requires scrutiny and/or to be under a constant scanner or outside supervision.”

According to the GR, the committee can seek information of both registered and unregistered marriages. However, the petitioner cautions that this would violate several rights of a couple who’ve “effectuated the marriage by elopement.” The Government Resolution has been issued unilaterally and in extreme haste under suspicious circumstances without following the due procedure and is thus also ultra vires to the constitution, the plea adds.

Distressed women can always seek refuge under various statutes under existing laws like the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 and Indian Penal Code, if desired.  The petition therefore seeks to quash the GR and all the action that may have been taken pursuant to the GR. In the interim the Government may be directed to stay action pursuant to the GR.

Related:

Three States have demanded caste census, says MHA
State has no business to know if a person has changed religion: Deepak Gupta former SC Judge
Uttarakhand further amends its ‘anti-conversion law, maximum sentence up to 10 years 

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The High Court of Kerala, on November 6, quashed criminal proceedings that were initiated against a former MLA while observing an individual’s right to lead a peaceful and non-violent procession. Former Kerala Assembly MLA Dominic Presentation was charged for being part of unlawful assembly under section 143 [unlawful assembly], 147 [rioting], 283 [Danger or obstruction in public way or line of navigation] r/w 149 [unlawful assembly with common object] of the Indian Penal Code. He was charged as he was deemed to be causing obstruction to general public and vehicles by conducting the procession in allegiance to a human rights protection procession in protest of arrest of two Dalit girls.

The petitioner contended that no case was made out to show that the procession was conducted to overawe by criminal force or to resist execution of any law. The petitioner also placed reliance on Kameshwar Prasad and Others v. State of Bihar and Another (1962 KHC 560 = AIR 1962 SC 1166) whereby the high court had held that a demonstration is a visible manifestation of the feelings of sentiments of an individual or a group. It is in effect therefore a form of speech or form of expression because speech need not be vocal since signs made by a dumb person would also be a form of speech. It was ultimately held that there are peaceful and orderly demonstrations which would fall within the freedoms guaranteed under Articles 19(1)(a) and (b).

While deciding the case, the single judge bench of Justice MR Anitha, considered that even though the procession had caused obstruction to vehicles and pedestrians, it did not at any point turn noisy or disorderly and was rather peaceful and non-violent. Hence, the court concluded that the acts of the petitioner were protected under Articles 19(1)(a) and (b) of the Constitution. Thus, the criminal proceedings were quashed.

The Shaheen Bagh juxtaposition

The view expressed by the Kerala High Court can be applied to the Shaheen Bagh case as well. The main contention was that the sit-in protest was obstructing vehicular traffic and was also causing inconvenience to pedestrians; albeit by a non-violent and peaceful protest.

The Supreme Court bench comprising Justices S.K. Kaul, Aniruddha Bose and Krishna Murari while passing a judgment against the Shaheen Bagh protest, observed that the foundation of India can be traced back to when seeds of protest were sown deep, however, “the erstwhile mode and manner of dissent against colonial rule cannot be equated with dissent in a self-ruled democracy”.

The court, while appreciating the existence of the right to peaceful protest against a legislation, held that “public ways and public spaces cannot be occupied in such a manner and that too indefinitely. Democracy and dissent go hand in hand, but then the demonstrations expressing dissent have to be in designated places alone”.

Aside from that, the court even questioned why the administration did not take any action on its own and waited for the intervention of the courts to clear out the protests; a rather perilous suggestion in times when the administration has indulged in brute force and high-handedness (read Uttar Pradesh anti-CAA protests, Jamia Millia Islamia violence).

What the court could not consider was the fact that a protest is a mark of dissent which is supposed to cause a disturbance and is meant to shake the administration and government, albeit in a peaceful manner. There come times when the acts of an elected government as well warrant a civil unrest which is demonstrative of the discontent of the electorate that elected the government in the first place. The Court did appreciate the right to protest but did not appreciate how this sit-in protest went on for days in an absolutely non-violent manner, maintaining a peaceful demeanour and largely maintaining decorum even in a public space, causing no more encumbrance than occupying some space to express dissent.

Notably, While the protesters had blocked a stretch of GD Birla Marg, a road that connects Delhi to Noida in Uttar Pradesh, a Scroll report showed that the Delhi and Uttar Pradesh police had barricaded two alternative routes that could have been used by commuters. The police could not explain the blockade, merely citing ‘security reasons’.

The Kerala High Court’s observation that “even though the procession had caused obstruction to vehicles and pedestrians, it did not at any point turn noisy or disorderly and was rather peaceful and non-violent” can be resounded here.

The Kerala High Court order may be read here

The Supreme Court judgment may be read here

Related:

Democracy dies when it’s streets fall silent: Activists on the right to protest
We shall not be intimidated, we shall not be silenced: Mahila Ekta Yatra
Right to protest, not an absolute law: SC

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Two MLAs who are part of the BJP-led ruling coalition in Haryana participated in farmers’ protests on September 20 that condemned the Centre’s agriculture Bills passed by Parliament, reproted Indian Express.

This decision of the Jannayak Janata Party’s (JJP) Jogi Ram Sihag and Ram Karan Kala was at odds with their party leader’s statement that accused the Congress of misleading farmers. Yet Sihag and Kala attended the farmers’ road blockade protests organised by the Bharatiya Kisan Union and other farmer outfits at Barwala in Hisar and Shahabad in Kurukshetra respectively.

Sihag said he would resign if his constituents including many farmers feel their interests have been compromised. He also said that the farm reforms will only result in big corporates exploiting farmers. Similarly, Kala said he participated in the protest because he felt farmers’ voices should be heard.

Meanwhile, Haryana Deputy Chief Minister and JJP leader Dushyant Chautala asserted that there is no question of abolishing the Minimum Support Price (MSP) mechanism in either of the three farmers Bills. The three legislations in question are the Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill.

The great-grandson of late Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal said that he came from a farmer’s family and would do anything to ensure farmers’ welfare. He also said he would quit his post if farmers do not get the MSP for their crops. Instead, Chautala said the new reforms would allow them to sell their crops even outside local markets if they receive higher rates.

Asserting that the MSP mechanism will be there to stay, Chautala said the Centre’s farm reforms will open new avenues of progress. Chief Minister ML Khattar too called the passing of the three Bills a “historic occasion.”

Haryana Agriculture Minister J P Dalal asserted that the farm reforms will play an important role in fulfilling Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s aim of doubling the farmers’ income by 2022. He said that some politicians had become used to petty politics and failed to properly read the Bills before issuing their statements.

Related:

Harsimrat Kaur Badal’s resignation, a public warning from Punjab farmers?
Agricultural Bills passed sans votes! Nation-wide, farmers rise in anger, Oppn United
The end of Parliament Democracy: Farmers’ Unions decry passage of Agri Bills in RS
We stand in solidarity: Trade Unions oppose Centre’s anti-people laws

The post Two JJP MLAs join farmers’ protests in Haryana, defying their own party assurances appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The previous low was in the year 2000 when four women were voted to the assembly in a state which until recently had India’s worst sex ratio at birth, and the fourth highest rate of crime against women nationwide in 2017.

The Manohar Lal Khattar-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has won (or was leading in) 40 seats as it attempted to win a second successive term in Haryana (as of 6.25 pm). This is seven seats fewer than the 47 it won in 2014. The Congress has won/was leading in 31 seats.

The BJP now governs 15 of the 29 states in India, including Maharashtra where the party has won/was leading in 103 seats while its ally, the Shiv Sena, has won/was leading in 57 seats in the 288-member assembly.

The trends in Haryana indicate a hung assembly, which would mean that the independents and the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP)–a splinter group of the Indian National Lok Dal, led by Dushyant Chautala–would play a decisive role in forming the next government. Khattar is reportedly set to stake claim to form the government.

In the 2019 general elections, the BJP had won all 10 parliamentary seats in the state. Only one of the members of parliament elected, Sunita Duggal, was a woman. 

BJP had 12 women candidates, Congress 10
The BJP gave tickets to 12 women this year, compared to 10 women candidates from the Congress.

Three women candidates from the BJP won their races–five fewer than the party’s eight women legislators in 2014; five women candidates from the Congress had won.

This time, the JJK fielded seven women candidates. One of them, Naina Singh Chautala, Dushyant Chautala’s mother, has won.

In 2014, women formed 14% of Haryana’s members of legislative assembly (MLAs), four percentage points more than in 2009. But this is less than the 33% representation for women in parliament and state assemblies sought in a bill (the One Hundred and Eighth Amendment or the women’s reservation bill) introduced in 2009, which has since lapsed.

In 2014, Haryana had, as we said, 13 women MLAs–the highest in the two decades since 2000. Of the 13, four were re-elected in 2014 and have contested for a third term in 2019. Of these, three have won.
 

Overall, eight of the sitting women MLAs have re-contested in 2019. Two of them, Shakuntla Khatak and Geeta Bhukkal, contested from Kalanaur and Jhajjar, respectively, both constituencies reserved for scheduled castes (SC) candidates.

The BJP’s Kavita Jain, contesting for a third successive term from Sonipat, was trailing by nearly 33,000 votes. 

“It is difficult to make an assessment of women politics depending on how many women win,” Rahul Verma, fellow at the Centre for Policy Research, told IndiaSpend. Despite having low social development indicators, Haryana has one of the largest representations of women, he added, “But many of the candidates and previous winners are either from political families or celebrities.”

Gilles Verniers, co-director of the Trivedi Centre for Political Data and head of the political science department at Ashoka University, agreed with Verma. “Until this result, Haryana had the highest representation of women in assemblies,” he told IndiaSpend. “This often comes as a surprise given the state’s reputation on women’s welfare, but we observe that in India, states with the worst women welfare-related statistics like skewed sex ratio, illiteracy, infant mortality etc. tend to have more women politicans than those with better indicators.” 

“One explanation is the prevalence of dynastic politics in those states, which creates opportunities to women to run,” Verniers said, “The traditional, conservative, North Indian political tradition tends to have a prevalent culture of political dynasticism than other parts of India.”

Haryana has fourth-highest rate of crime against women
Over five years to 2017, female representation in state assemblies was the highest in Haryana (14%) along with Bihar and Rajasthan, according to the 2017 data released by the ministry of statistics and programme implementation.

Haryana has had one of the lowest sex ratios in the country–it had 833 girls for 1,000 boys at birth in 2011. But for close to a decade now, the state has shown a steady improvement in its sex ratio at birth, and reported 920 girls for 1,000 boys in August 2019, IndiaSpend reported on October 20, 2019.

A skewed sex ratio has led to villages with few female children, brides being bought for money as there are too few local women for men to marry, and forced marriages with women outside the state, The Guardian reported in March 2018.

The state had India’s fourth-highest rate of crime against women–88.7 crimes per 100,000 women, according to 2017 crime data. Female literacy, at 75.4%, is above the national average of 68.4%, and nearly 46% of girls in the state have completed more than 10 years of schooling, also above the national average of 35.7%, IndiaSpend reported on August 12, 2017, as a part of our Women@Work series.

The state is among the wealthiest in the country with a per capita income (at current prices) of Rs 2.3 lakh per annum, nearly 77% more than the all-India per capita income of Rs 1.3 lakh, noted the 2018-19 Economic Survey of Haryana.

The labour force participation rate among those aged 15 years and above (LFPR or percentage of persons in the labour force in a population) in Haryana is 45.5% for rural and urban areas, 4.3 percentage points less than the national average, according to 2017-18 Periodic Labour Force Survey released by the government in May 2019. India’s unemployment was pegged at a 45-year high at 6.1% based on the report.

Women’s LFPR was even lower–14.7% in rural areas (nearly 10 percentage points lower than the national rural LFPR for women) while in urban areas it was 13.7% (6.7 percentage less than national urban female LFPR).

“Unemployment may or may not be a voting issue,” said Verniers. “Women do outvote men in Haryana as they do in many states in the Hindi belt. But lack of access to employment means household confinement, which is a strong barrier to women’s participation in the public sphere.”

“The trouble is that the bar is so high that a man of ordinary capability and more than ordinary ambition can enter politics, but women have to cross many thresholds to be able to enter politics,” Yogendra Yadav, psephologist and president of Swaraj India party, had told IndiaSpend in an interview. His party had fielded 27 candidates, including five women candidates, all of whom have lost.

“If you filter the women in the Haryana assembly for those from political families, you would realise that their number [women’s representation] is close to zero,” Yadav said.

There are a number of barriers for women because parties still think they make weaker candidates, or that they cannot perform the tasks expected from an elected representative, according to Verniers. “In some states, like Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, voters turn against women candidates, giving them less votes than their male counterparts. There is an issue of self-selection where elections are seen as masculine and brutish, which may discourage women to run. And then there is the cost of entry of elections which affects women adversely.”

At the time of publishing, repolling had been ordered in five booths in as many constituencies–Natnaul, Kosli, Beri, and Uchana Kalan, Prithla–due to ”some shortcomings” according to Inder Jeet, the state’s joint chief electoral officer, NDTV reported.

(Paliath is an analyst with IndiaSpend.)

Courtesy: India Spend

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SabrangIndia had previously reported on ADR’s report for phase II of the elections, which found, among other things, that Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik was the wealthiest candidate in that phase. Notably, this report found that the MLAs who won the 2014 elections and re-contested the 2019 polls saw significant increase in their average assets.
 
Criminal background of candidates 
The latest report analysed candidates who contested in all four phases, and found that 30% of the candidates analysed, or 332 candidates, had criminal cases against them. 23% of candidates analysed, or 257 candidates, had ‘serious criminal cases’ against them. The criteria for a serious criminal case includes: offences for which the minimum punishment is five years or more, non-bailable offences, offences related to abduction, murder, assault and rape, offences mentioned in the Representation of the People Act and the Prevention of Corruption Act, and crimes against women.
 
In 2009 and 2014, the proportion of candidates with criminal cases against them was 23%, making the lattes figure a significant jump from previous election cycles. In terms of the political parties, of the candidates analysed, 40% of candidates from Biju Janata Dal (BJD), 59% of candidates from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), 46% of candidates from the Indian National Congress (INC), 11% of candidates from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), and 23% of independent candidates had criminal cases against them. Overall, 59 of Odisha’s 147 constituencies were termed “red alert constituencies,” with more than three candidates with criminal cases against them, per the report. In 2014, 56 constituencies were “red alert constituencies”.
 
Notably, seven candidates had declared convicted cases against them, and nine candidates had declared cases related to murder (Section 302 of the IPC) against them. 63 candidates had declared cases of attempt to murder (Section 307 of the IPC), and 49 candidates had declared cases related to crimes against women. Of these, two candidates had declared cases related to rape (Section 376 of the IPC).
 
Financial background of candidates
Of the candidates analysed, 6% were worth Rs. 5 crores or higher, and 10% were worth between Rs. 2 crores and Rs. 5 crores. 22% were worth between Rs. 50 lakhs and Rs. 2 crores. The majority of candidates were worth Rs. 50 lakhs, or less, with 25% of the candidates worth between Rs. 10 lakhs and Rs. 50 lakhs, and 37% of candidates worth less than Rs. 10 lakhs.
 
Of the 1121 candidates analysed, 27%, or 304 candidates were crorepatis. In comparison, of the 1420 candidates analysed for the 2014 Odisha assembly elections, 244 candidates, or 17%, were crorepatis. Meanwhile, of the 1261 candidates analysed for the 2009 assembly elections, only 94 candidates, or 7% were crorepatis.
 
The BJD had the highest number of crorepati candidates, with 97 of the 146 analysed. The BJP came in second with 75 of 145 candidates, and the Congress came in third, with 73 of 139 candidates. The average assets per candidate for the 2019 assembly elections amounted to Rs. 169 crores. This figure was Rs. 91.14 lakhs for the 2014 assembly elections, and Rs. 50.88 lakhs for the 2009 state elections.
 
In terms of the political parties, the BJD’s average assets per candidate, at Rs. 4.59 crores. This figure was Rs. 2.78 crores for the BJP, Rs. 3.85 crores for the Congress, Rs. 27.75 lakhs for the BSP, and Rs. 68.75 lakhs for the independent candidates. Although Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik was the wealthiest candidate in phase II, overall, he came in second to Bobby Mohanty of the Congress, who contested from the Baramba constituency in the Cuttack district, and had total assets worth more than Rs. 106 crores. Joginath Sahoo of the Rashtriya Independent Morcha (RIM) was the candidate with the lowest total assets, amounting to Rs. 377. Six candidates declared that their total assets were zero.

89 of the MLAs re-contested this year’s assembly elections. Per ADR’s analysis, the average assets of these MLAs in 2014 were Rs. 2.10 crores. Notably, this figure has significantly increased over the last five years, with the average assets of these MLAs in 2019 amounting to Rs. 5.02 crores. The average growth in this figure is Rs. 2.91 crores, or 139%.
 
In terms of the political parties, the average assets for BJD MLAs were around Rs. 2.38 crores in 2014, and grew to around Rs. 5.05 crores in 2019, a 112.5% increase. For Congress MLAs, average assets were around Rs. 1.63 crores in 2014, and around Rs. 5.82 crores in 2019, making the increase nearly 256%. For BJP MLAs, average assets in 2014 were around Rs. 1.34 crores, and jumped to Rs. 5.44 crores in 2019, with an increase of 300.38%. For the sole BSP MLA who re-contested, average assets were nearly Rs. 73 lakhs in 2014, and almost Rs. 4 crores in 2019, making the increase more than 440%.
 
Of the 1121 candidates analysed, ADR found that just 112, or 10%, were women. While 117 women contested the 2014 assembly elections, the proportion of women candidates was lower then, at 8%. The highest number of female candidates were independent candidates–29. However, these were just 10% of the total number of independent candidates–298. The BJD came in second, having fielded 19 women candidates (13%), while the Congress fielded 13 (9%), the BJP fielded 12 (8%), and the BSP fielded 10 female candidates (9%).
 
The results for the 2019 Odisha assembly elections will be announced alongside the results of the Lok Sabha elections, on May 23.
 
The complete report by ADR and Odisha Election Watch may be read here

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CM Raman Singh
 

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Navjot Singh Sidhu and other leaders of the Congress party during a campaign rally in the run-up to the recently concluded Punjab assembly election. About half (2,410) of India’s members of parliament and legislative assemblies declared household assets of more than Rs 2 crore, of which 38% declared family incomes of less than Rs 10 lakh

As many as 75% of MPs and MLAs nationwide declared annual incomes less than Rs 10 lakh, the analysis found. Around 35% of lawmakers said their annual income is less than Rs 2.5 lakh while 40% have declared annual income between Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 10 lakh. As many as 1,141 (24%) MPs and MLAs claimed exemption from income tax or have no income at all.

“We can conclude that we are largely a tax non-compliant society,” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, sarcastically, during his budget speech on February 1, 2017.

Sharing income tax data, Jaitley said that of 37 million individuals who filed tax returns in 2015-16, 9.9 million (27%) declared annual incomes below the exemption limit of Rs 2.5 lakh; 19.5 million (53%) declared annual incomes between Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 5 lakh, while 7.6 million (20%) declared annual incomes of more than Rs 5 lakh.

If the annual incomes of family (incomes of spouse and dependents, as declared in their respective tax returns) are added to the incomes of MPs and MLAs, 62% legislators’ households have an income less than Rs 10 lakh.

About half (2,410) of India’s MPs and MLAs have declared household assets (movable and immovable assets of the elected member, spouse and dependent/s) of more than Rs 2 crore, of which 912 (38% of 2,410) declared family incomes of less than Rs 10 lakh.

Of 1,843 MPs and MLAs with family incomes of more than Rs 10 lakh, 106 declared household assets of less than Rs 1 crore.

Only quarter of 4,848 MPs/MLAs declare income more than Rs 10 lakh

Only 25% (1,236 of 4,848) of MPs and MLAs declared in tax returns that their annual incomes were more than Rs 10 lakh;  35% (1,676 of 4,848) declared incomes less than Rs 2.5 lakh.

Among regional parties, 83% Samajwadi Party (SP) MPs and MLAs, 78% of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), 68% of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and 80% of Biju Janata Dal (BJD) lawmakers reported incomes of less than Rs 10 lakh.

For details on income ranges upto Rs 10 lakh, click here.

While 63% Lok Sabha MPs declared annual incomes of less than Rs 10 lakh, only 13% Rajya Sabha MPs declared annual incomes of less than Rs 10 lakh.

Among states, over 80% of MLAs in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Odisha declared annual incomes less than Rs 10 lakh.

For details on income ranges upto Rs 10 lakh, click here.

24% legislators declared no income

As many as 1,676 (35%) elected representatives declared annual incomes less than Rs 2.5 lakh. Of these, 1,141 (24%) reported to the Election Commission that they were either exempt from income tax on various grounds, such as being a farmer, being from an area mentioned in the sixth schedule of the constitution–such as the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura–and so exempt from income tax, or have no income at all.
 

Total family income of MPs and MLAs

Only 38% (1,843 of 4848) legislators said they had annual family incomes (income of an MP or an MLA and incomes of family, such as spouse and dependents/s), more than Rs 10 lakh; 28% (1,343 of 4,848) declared family incomes less than Rs 2.5 lakh.
 

Half of all MPs/MLAs declared household assets of more than Rs 2 crore

Half of India’s elected representatives declared household assets of more than Rs 2 crore; 28% more than Rs 5 crore. As many as 70% of MPs and MLAs had assets more than Rs 1 crore.

Although assets are supposed to be declared by elected representatives at market price, immovable assets are grossly under valued, Indian Express reported in December 2013.

A former Election Commissioner said the law was not being used to value assets by lawmakers accurately and urged people to go to court to force lawful evaluations, Indian Express reported in December 2013.
 

The correlation between assets and incomes of MPs and MLAs

“How long will we overlook facts that stare us in the face?” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on December 31, 2016. “ I wish to share some information with you, which will either make you laugh, or make you angry. According to information available with the government, only 24 lakh people in India accept that their annual income is more than Rs 10 lakh.”

“If we look at any big city, it would have lakhs of people with annual income of more than Rs 10 lakh. Do you not feel that for the good of the country, this movement for honesty needs to be further strengthened?

”In some way, the Prime Minister drew a correlation between assets and income declared to tax authorities. We found a weak correlation existed between the assets and incomes of MPs and MLAs.

Income-Assets Correlation Of Lawmakers

1. 38% (912 of 2,410) legislators with assets more than Rs 2 crore declared family incomes of less than Rs 10 lakh.
2. Of 1,079 lawmakers with assets in the range of Rs 2 crore and Rs 5 crore, only 44% (474) declared incomes more than Rs 10 lakh.
3. 22% (255 of 1,651) with assets between Rs 2 crore and Rs 10 crore declared incomes less than Rs 2.5 lakh.
4. 41% (891 of 2,155) with assets between Rs 2 crore and Rs 30 crore declared incomes less than Rs 10 lakh.
5. Of 156 lawmakers with household assets more than Rs 50 crore, 10 declared incomes less than Rs 10 lakh.
6. Of 75 legislators with assets more than Rs 100 crore, four reported incomes less than Rs 2.5 lakh.
7. 7% (106 out of 1,470) with assets less than Rs 1 crore declared annual incomes more than Rs 10 lakh.
8. As many as 2,410 elected representatives (MPs/MLAs) declared household assets of more than Rs 2 crore, of which 912 (out of 2410, 38%) disclosed family incomes less than Rs 10 lakh.

MPs/MLAs with incomes more than Rs 10 lakh

Of 1,843 (38% of 4,848) elected representatives who declared family annual incomes more than Rs 10 lakh, 345 (19% of 1,843) declared assets less than Rs 2 crore. As many as 903 MPs and MLAs declared family incomes between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 20 lakh; 410 declared more than Rs 50 lakh.

Income-Assets Correlation Of Lawmakers With Annual Income Over Rs 10 Lakh

Note: All data sourced from affidavits filed by the MPs and MLAs with the Election Commission of India, and correspond to the year preceding their election.

Correction: The headline has been corrected to reflect that 24%, and not 21%, of India’s MPs and MLAs claimed exemption from income tax or have no income at all. We regret the error.

(Manoj K is a graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, and the founder of the Centre for Governance and Development. He has a special interest in transparency and accountability in governance and has spearheaded several projects on these subjects.)

This article was first Published on India Spend

The post 24% India’s MPs/MLAs Say They Don’t Need To Pay Tax Or Have No Income appeared first on SabrangIndia.

चुनाव आयोग की ओर से पेश वरिष्ठ वकील मीनाक्षी अरोड़ा ने चीफ जस्टिस टीएस ठाकुर की अध्यक्षता वाली तीन सदस्यीय पीठ के सामने यह दलीलें पेश कीं। मीनाक्षी अरोड़ा ने पीठ से कहा कि इस चरण में जाकर चुनाव आयोग का काम आता है और उस खास रिक्त सीट का चुनाव कार्यक्रम घोषित होता है। पीठ उस स्थिति के बारे में जानना चाहती थी जब निचली अदालत के आदेश पर रोक या निलंबन होगा।
 
आपको बता दें कि सुप्रीम कोर्ट ने 10 जुलाई, 2013 को आदेश जारी कर कहा था कि आपराधिक कृत्य के लिए दोषी करार दिए जाने पर किसी निर्वाचित जनप्रतिनिधि को तत्काल आयोग्य घोषित कर दिया जाय।
 
इस पीठ में न्यायमूर्ति डीवाई चंद्रचूड़ और न्यायमूर्ति एल नागेश्वर राव भी शामिल थे। जब पीठ ने अतिरिक्त सालिसिटर जनरल मनिंदर सिंह से मदद मांगी तो सिंह ने कहा कि विधिनिर्माता को उस सूरत में राहत मिल सकती है अगर ऊपरी अदालत दोष सिद्धि पर रोक लगाती है या निलंबित करती है लेकिन केवल सजा पर निलंबन दोषी सांसदों या विधायकों की मदद नहीं कर पाएगा।
 
बेंच ने पूछा कि अगर निचली अदालत के आदेश पर ऊपरी अदालत रोक लगा दे तो क्या होगा? इस पर एडिशनल सॉलिसीटर जनरल मनिंदर सिंह ने कहा, ‘ऊपरी अदालत सांसद-विधायक को बरी कर देती है तो उसे राहत मिल सकती है। पर केवल सजा पर निलंबन दोषी सांसदों या विधायकों की मदद नहीं कर पाएगा। सुप्रीम कोर्ट ने आयोग से इस मामले में 4 हफ्ते में हलफनामा दायर करने को कहा।

Courtesy: National Dastak

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