New Delhi: A query under the RTI Act revealed a total of Sixty-five Lok Sabha members and 29 Rajya Sabha members are yet to declare their assets and liabilities.
61 MPs out of the total lower house MPs have not furnished their details since 2014, while four of them came recently to the house after by-election process, as per the details provided by Lok Sabha Secretariat in replying to an activist Rachna Kalra, who had made the request under the Right to Information Act.
“As on August 14, 61 Members of 16th Lok Sabha have not yet furnished declarations of their ‘Assets and Liabilities as per the Members of Lok Sabha (Declaration of Assets and Liabilities) Rules, 2004’.
“Further, four new Member of Lok Sabha who had recently been elected to Lok Sabha in bye-elections are also to furnish the declarations of Assets and Liabilities. They have 90 days’ time to furnish the same from the date of their taking oath/Affirmation,” the reply reads.
The candidates who have not provided the details in the Lower House of the Parliament included nine members of the Indian National Congress (INC) and seven others from Telugu Desam Party (TDP).
Other members who did not declare their assets belonged each to the following parties: All India Trinamool Congress (AITC), Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Samajwadi Party (SP), Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and Lok Jan Shakti Party (LJSP).
Three members from Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), two members each belonging to Shiv Sena, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Janata Dal (United) are also included under the list.
And one member each from All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), National People’s Party (NPP), Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party (JKPDP), Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), All India NR Congress (AINRC), Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and YSR Congress Party have also not given any details about their assets and liabilities.
And regarding Upper House, under the Members of Rajya Sabha (Declaration of Assets and Liabilities) Rules, 2004, “current elected members are required to furnish the details of assets and liabilities, within 90 days from the date of taking oath or making affirmation in the Council of States”.
As of August 9, “the requisite declaration of Assets and Liabilities is awaited from 29 members of Rajya Sabha”, another RTI query disclosed.
Another six members each belonging to BJP and INC were among the members who are yet to declare the details regarding their assets.
Apart from that, three members from RJD, TRS and AITC are the ones who have not provided the details along with each from BJD and JD(U).
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