67% of councillors elected to MCD are crorepatis, says report
New Delhi (PTI): At least 67 per cent of the 250 newly elected councillors in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) are crorepatis, according to an Association for Democratic Reforms report.
In 2017, when 270 wards of the then three municipal corporations had gone to the polls, 51 per cent of the 266 councillors analyzed were crorepatis, it said.
Following the delimitation of wards, earlier this year, the number of seats in the MCD came down to 250.
The AAP ended the BJP's 15-year stint in the MCD - trifurcated in 2012 into north, south and east corporations and unified this year - by winning 134 seats while restricting the BJP to 104 seats. The Congress won just nine seats while three seats were won by 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.
It said that 82 councillors who had declared assets worth more than Rs 1 crore were members of the BJP -- the highest among all parties. The AAP has 77 councillors who are self-declared crorepatis.
"...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 Rs 1 crore," the report added.
The Association for Democratic Reforms and the Delhi Election Watch analyzed the self-sworn affidavits of 248 of 250 councillors in the MCD elections. The assets of two winning candidates could not be analysed due to the unavailability of clear and complete affidavits with the State Election Commission, Delhi.
The average assets per winning candidate of the 104 BJP councillors is Rs 5.29 crore while that of the 132 AAP councillors analysed is Rs 3.56 crore, the report said.
The Association for Democratic Reforms said that the average assets per candidate for the nine Congress councillors were worth Rs 4.09 crore. The three Independent councillors have average assets worth Rs 5.53 crore.
Polling was held on December 4 and the results announced on Wednesday.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
4 workers die after being buried under coal slurry in Jharkhand's Dhanbad
Dhanbad (Jharkhand) (PTI): At least four workers died after being buried under coal slurry in Jharkhand's Dhanbad district on Saturday, a police official said.
The incident took place at Moonidih coal washery in the command area of Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL).
"Bodies of all four workers were dug out of debris during a rescue operation," Putki police station in-charge Waqar Hussain told PTI.
The incident took place when coal slurry was being loaded into trucks by workers, during which a large chunk of slurry fell and trapped several workers underneath, officials said.
The deceased have been identified as Manik Bauri, Dinesh Bauri, Deepak Bauri, and Hemlal Gope.
Meanwhile, the family members of the deceased and local villagers placed the bodies in front of the washery gate and began a protest.
They demanded compensation, jobs for dependents and action against those responsible for the incident.
Police and administration officials are trying to pacify the protesters, an official said.
