Gujarat's Dalit face Mevani "poorest" MLA in new state assembly, ex-BJP minister Saurabh Patel richest: ADR

By A Representative
Gujarat's Dalit face, Jignesh Mevani, who fought and won as Independent with Congress support from Vadgam with a comfortable margin of over 19,000 votes, is the poorest MLA of the 182 legislators who were elected to the state assembly in the just concluded polls. While Mevani's assets value Rs 10.50 lakh, the richest MLA (Botad) is former BJP minister Saurabh Patel, having total assets worth Rs 123.79 crore.
An analysis of assets of and criminal cases against all the 182 MLAs, carried out by the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) on the basis of the affidavits they submitted before the Election Commission of India, says that out of the 182 MLAs analysed, 47 (26%) MLAs have declared criminal cases against themselves, as against 57 (31%) among those who won in the Gujarat Assembly elections in 2012, 57 (31%)
The number of MLAs with "serious criminal cases" has also gone down, says the analysis. Thus, this time 33 (18%) MLAs have declared serious criminal cases including cases related to murder, attempt to murder, dacoity, robbery etc. though during Gujarat Assembly elections in 2012, 24 (13%) MLAs had declared serious criminal cases against themselves.

While two MLAs, Maheshbhai Vasava (Bhartiya Tribal Party) and Bhaveshbhai Katara (Congress) have declared cases related to murder (IPC section 302), six MLAs with declared cases related to attempt to murder, 6 MLAs have declared cases related to attempt to murder (IPC Section 307).
Further, says the analysis, one MLA namely Jethabhai Bharwad (BJP) from Shehra constituency has declared case related to rape (IPC Section 376) against himself, adding, 18 out of 99 MLAs from BJP, 25 out of 77 MLAs from INC, one of the two MLAs from the Bhartiya Tribal Party, the lone Nationalist Congress Party MLA, and two of the three Independent MLAs have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.
Further, says the analysis, 12 BJP MLAs, 17 (22%) out of 17 Congress MLAs, one MLA each from the Bhartiya Tribal Party and the Nationalist Congress Party, two Independent MLAs have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

The analysis further says that out of the 182 newly elected MLAs, 141 (77%) are crorepatis, as against 134 (74%) MLAs who were elected in the 2012 polls, adding, partywise crorepati details show that 84 BJP and 54 Congress MLAs have declared assets valued more than Rs 1 crore.
The average of assets per MLA in the Gujarat 2017 assembly elections is Rs. 8.46 crore, the analysis says, adding in 2012, the average assets MLAs analyzed was Rs 8.03 crore. Partywise details show that verage assets per MLA for 99 BJP MLAs analysed is Rs 10.64 crore, as against Rs 5.85 crore for 77 Congress MLAs. The two Bhartiya Tribal Party MLAs have average assets worth Rs 2.71 crore, and three Independent MLAs have average assets of Rs. 53.86 lakh.
Following Saurabh Patel, who belongs to the well-known Ambani family, those who have next highest assets are BJP's Dhanjibhai Patel (Makson), who won from Wadhwan (Rs 113.47 crore), and Congress' Jawaharbhai Chavda, who won from Manavadar (Rs 103.67 crore).

Comments

Was Netaji forced to alter face, die in obscurity in USSR in 1975? Was he so meek?

By Rajiv Shah This should sound almost hilarious. Not only did Subhas Chandra Bose not die in a plane crash in Taipei, nor was he the mysterious Gumnami Baba who reportedly passed away on 16 September 1985 in Ayodhya, but we are now told that he actually died in 1975—date unknown—“in oblivion” somewhere in the former Soviet Union. Which city? Moscow? No one seems to know.

Love letters in a lifelong war: Babusha Kohli’s resistance in verse

By Ravi Ranjan* “War does not determine who is right—only who is left.” Bertrand Russell’s words echo hauntingly in our times, and few contemporary Hindi poets embody this truth as profoundly as Babusha Kohli. Emerging from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, Kohli has carved a unique space in literature by weaving together tenderness, protest, and philosophy across poetry, prose, and cinema. Her work is not merely artistic expression—it is resistance, refuge, and a call for peace.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Asbestos contamination in children’s products highlights global oversight gaps

By A Representative A commentary published by the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS) has drawn attention to the challenges governments face in responding effectively to global public-health risks. In an article written by Laurie Kazan-Allen and published on March 5, 2026, the author examines how the discovery of asbestos contamination in children’s play products has raised questions about regulatory oversight and international product safety. The article opens by reflecting on lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that governments in several countries were slow to respond to early warning signs of the crisis. Referring to the experience of the United Kingdom, the author writes that delays in implementing protective measures contributed to “232,112 recorded deaths and over a million people suffering from long Covid.” The commentary uses this example to illustrate what it describes as the dangers of underestimating emerging threats. Attention then turns...

The kitchen as prison: A feminist elegy for domestic slavery

By Garima Srivastava* Kumar Ambuj stands as one of the most incisive voices in contemporary Hindi poetry. His work, stripped of ornamentation, speaks directly to the lived realities of India’s marginalized—women, the rural poor, and those crushed under invisible forms of violence. His celebrated poem “Women Who Cook” (Khānā Banātī Striyāṃ) is not merely about food preparation; it is a searing indictment of patriarchal domestic structures that reduce women’s existence to endless, unpaid labour.

The price of silence: Why Modi won’t follow Shastri, appeal for sacrifice

By Arundhati Dhuru, Sandeep Pandey* In 1965, as India grappled with war and a crippling food crisis, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri faced a United States that used wheat shipments under the PL-480 agreement as a lever to dictate Indian foreign policy. Shastri’s response remains legendary: he appealed to the nation to skip one meal a day. Millions of middle-class households complied, choosing temporary hunger over the sacrifice of national dignity. Today, India faces a modern equivalent in the energy sector, yet the leadership’s response stands in stark contrast to that era of self-reliance.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Rajiv Shah Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

India’s green energy push faces talent crunch amidst record growth at 16% CAGR

By Jag Jivan* A new study by a top consulting firm has found that India’s cleantech sector is entering a decisive growth phase, with strong policy backing, record capacity additions and surging investor interest, but facing mounting pressure on talent supply and rising compensation costs .

Beyond sattvik: Purity, caste and the politics of the Indian kitchen

By Rajiv Shah A few week ago, I was forwarded an article that appeared in the British weekly The Economist . Titled “Caste and cuisine: From honeycomb curry to blood fry: India’s ‘untouchable’ cooking”, it took me back to what I had blogged about what was called a “ sattvik food festival”, an annual event organised by former Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad professor Anil Gupta.

Search This Blog