Lok Sabha elections 2019: Who is India's poorest MP? And who is the richest?

Self-declared affidavits of 479 out of 521 sitting Lok Sabha MPs reveal interesting nuggets.
Telugu Desam MP Jayadev Galla. (File Photo | PTI)
Telugu Desam MP Jayadev Galla. (File Photo | PTI)

There are poor parliamentarians and there are rich parliamentarians.

67-year-old Sumedha Nand Saraswati from Sikar in Rajasthan, a seer by choice, is the poorest Lok Sabha MP in our land, having declared a paltry Rs 34,311 as his total assets, according to an Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) report. 

At the other end, we have Jayadev Galla, the MP from Guntur (Andhra Pradesh), who makes Rs 16.85 crore plus a year.

But how do our MPs stack up when it comes to income generation? Do the studious ones do better? What about the less educated? Which are the states that contribute the richest MPs?

Self-declared affidavits of 479 out of 521 sitting Lok Sabha MPs, submitted in 2014, reveal interesting nuggets. 

Of the 479 MPs, one was an illiterate, six have studied up to Class V, and eight left school after Class VIII.

The six MPs who left school after Class V include Kanwar Singh Tanwar (BJP MP from Amroha in UP), Natubhai G Patel (BJP MP from Dadra and Nagar Haveli), Gopal Chinayya Shetty (BJP MP from Mumbai North in Maharashtra), Vijay Kumar Hansdak (JMM MP from Rajmahal in Jharkhand) and Chhote Lal (BJP MP from Robertsganj in UP).

The list also has 55-year-old Union cabinet minister Uma Bharti from Jhansi in UP. 

Muttamsetti Srinivasa Rao (47) from Anakapalle in Andhra Pradesh has declared himself an illiterate. He earns a little over Rs 75 lakh a year. 

Of the six who have studied up to Class V, Tanwar alone made a tad over Rs 8.15 crore in a year. This meant that these poorly educated MPs made an average of Rs 1.41 crore per year.

While forty-two MPs have finished high school, 48 of them have studied till Class XII.  92 of the 479 MPs are graduates, 134 postgraduates and 30 hold doctorates. The average annual income of the graduate MPs is Rs 41 lakh. 

The state with the richest MPs

The average annual self-income of the 479 sitting MPs, according to the study, is Rs 30.29 lakh. Among these, the average annual income of 19 MPs from Andhra Pradesh is the highest at Rs 105.9 lakh, followed by Odisha's 15 MPs with an annual self-income of Rs 68.8 lakh.

MPs from Goa have the lowest average annual self-income of Rs. 5.2 lakh, followed by 33 MPs from Tamil Nadu with an average annual self-income of Rs. 7.2 lakh. 

Profession

The study further stated that of the 479 parliamentarians, 98 have declared ‘business’ as their profession and 91 have said that they are agriculturists. Sixteen MPs who have declared their profession as actor, filmmaker or singer have the highest average annual self-income of Rs. 106.81 lakh. 

Age-wise breakdown

As many as 150 MPs aged between 46-55 years have an average annual self-income of Rs. 40.54 lakh whereas 54 MPs in the 66-75 age group have an average annual self-income of Rs. 16.72 lakh, the ADR study said.

Gender

There are only 58 women MPs. On average, a male MP’s annual self-income is Rs. 30.54 lakh, whereas for a female MP, it is Rs. 28.46 lakh.

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