Patna,(BiharTimes): As high as 25 sitting and former legislators of Bihar, including ministers, have been served notices by the Income Tax Department, following investigations into the sudden rise in their wealth.
Reports said that the wealth of these elected representatives, incidentally many of them of ruling NDA, rose up to 200%, between 2010 and 2015 Assembly elections.
The IT authorities have referred their findings to the Election Commission.
These legislators will have to pay a penalty up to 300% on their unexplained wealth, based on the assessment done by the IT Department in the past few months. The sitting MLAs on the list may even lose their membership of the
house, in case the Election Commission initiates action against them for giving false affidavits about their assets while filing their nomination papers for the assembly polls.
“We had scanned the assets declared in the election affidavits filed by all 243 Bihar MLAs, of which the affidavits of 50 MLAs aroused our suspicion. Of these, around 25 MLAs showed a rise in income by 200% in the period between 2010 to 2015 assembly polls, but could not explain the rise when questioned. Some of these MLAs have also undervalued their income by making false claims in their affidavits,” a senior IT officer, engaged in the probe was quoted in the Hindustan Times.
The ministers who figured in the list are Rana Randhir, (BJP MLA from Madhuban), Vijay Kumar Sinha, minister and BJP MLA from Lakhisarai.
