In what can be termed as a positive sign for healthy democracy, no legislators elected in the recently held Assembly polls in Sikkim has serious criminal charges against them.
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According to a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) it is for the first time 2009 that the Sikkim Assembly will have members with no criminal background.
As many as 17 candiates of the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) were elected as legislators and the Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) could manage to elect 15 in the 32-member Assembly.
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The report, which also focussed on wealth, education and other details of MLAs, said 24 legislators (75 per cent) declared Rs 10 crore plus wealth. 15 MLAs of the SDF and 11 of the SKM have Rs 1 crore plus with assets. SDF’s Dilliram Thapa has declared over Rs 67 crore wealth.
According to the report, though there was no difference in percentage term in the wealth declared by legislators between 2014 and 2019, it had increased more than 20 per cent as was evident from the affidavits filed for the 2009 Assembly elections.
The average asset per MLA in the 2019 Assembly is Rs 8.63 crore, which is 20 per cent more over the average asset per MLA in the 2014 Assembly.
According to the ADR report, around 50 per cent MLAs declared their educational qualification as graduate or above while the remaining 50 per cent declared primary and higher secondary education.
The highest number of legislators is in the 41-50 years age group, while there are only three women in the Sikkim Assembly.