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About 151 of the 174 newly-elected Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) in Andhra Pradesh have declared criminal cases against them, with 55 or 32 percent reporting serious criminal cases in their affidavits and eight being convicted, according to the Andhra Pradesh Election Watch (APEW) and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

YSR Congress Party MLA Ramakrishna Reddy Pinnelli has declared a case related to murder.

10 MLAs have declared cases accompanying attempt to murder and six other MLAs have declared cases related to crime against women such as criminal force or assault against women with intent to outrage her modesty, word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of women.

Seven MLAs have declared cases related to kidnapping, according to report.

Among major parties, 50 (33 percent) of the 150 MLAs analyzed from YSRCP, four (17 percent) of the 23 from Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the lone legislator from Jana Sena Party (JSP) have declared 'serious' criminal cases in their affidavits.

The ADR and APEW have analyzed the self-sworn affidavits of 174 of the 175 MLAs in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly: 160 men and 14 women.

Sizeable Assets

Of the 174 MLAs, 163 (94 percent) are crorepatis. The report said that a total of 140 (93 percent) of the 150 MLAs analyzed from YSRCP, 22 (96 percent) of 23 from TDP and one from JSP have declared assets worth more than Rs 1 crore.

The average asset per MLA is Rs 27.87 crore. The average asset per MLA for 150 YSRCP candidates is Rs 22.41 crore while it is Rs 64.61 crore for 23 TDP candidates.

Former Chief Minister of AP and present MLA of Kuppam constituency N. Chandrababu Naidu, is among the top three MLAs with highest declared assets. Naidu declared Rs 668 crore worth of family assets in his affidavit.

He is followed by Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy (Rs 510 crore) of YSRCP from Pulivendla constituency and Nandamuri Balakrishna (Rs 274 crore) of TDP from Hindupur constituency.

-Sangam Sowmya