NEW DELHI (TIP): In tax returns filed a year before they were elected, 72 pc BJP and Congress MPs and MLAs claimed they earn less than Rs 10 lakh, according to an analysis of affidavits of 4,848 (of 4,910) lawmakers.

About 75 pc of MPs and MLAs nationwide declared annual income less than Rs 10 lakh. Around 35 pc of lawmakers said their annual income is less than Rs 2.5 lakh while 40 pc declared income between Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 10 lakh.

As many as 1,141 (24 pc) MPs and MLAs claimed exemption from income tax or have no income at all.

If the annual incomes of family (incomes of spouse and dependents, as declared in their respective tax returns) are added to the incomes of MPs and MLAs, 62 pc legislators’ households have an income less than Rs 10 lakh.

Of 1,843 MPs and MLAs with family incomes of more than Rs 10 lakh, 106 declared household assets of less than Rs 1 crore. Only 25 pc (1,236 of 4,848) of MPs and MLAs declared in tax returns that their annual incomes were more than Rs 10 lakh; 35 pc (1,676 of 4,848) declared income less than Rs 2.5 lakh.

While 63 pc Lok Sabha MPs declared annual income of less than Rs 10 lakh, only 13 pc Rajya Sabha MPs declared annual incomes of less than Rs 10 lakh. Among states, over 80 pc of MLAs in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Odisha declared annual incomes less than Rs 10 lakh.