New Delhi: Out of 1,463 candidates in poll fray for the second phase of the Bihar Assembly elections, 495 are ‘crorepatis’ (millionaires). This figure has been mentioned in a report by the Bihar Election Watch (BEW) and the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR). The report was made public after after analysing the self-sworn affidavits of all the 1,463 candidates contesting in phase two. The second phase of the Bihar Assembly elections is scheduled for November 3. These, 1,463 candidates will be contesting in 94 Assembly constituencies.
According to the report, 118 candidates have assets worth Rs five crore and above. Similarly 185 candidates have assets worth Rs 2 crore to Rs 5 crore. It also said that 426 candidates have assets worth Rs 50 lakh to Rs 2 crore and 462 candidates have assets worth Rs 10 lakh to Rs 50 lakh. The report said that only 272 out of 1,463 candidates have assets less than Rs 10 lakh.
“The BJP tops the list of the crorepati candidates and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) with the least. Out of 46 BJP candidates, 39, which is 85 per cent, are crorepatis. It is followed by Congress with 20 out of the 24 candidates crorepatis. It means that 83 per cent of the Congress candidates have assets worth over rupees one crore,” the report said.
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The report also highlighted that 46 out of 52 candidates of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) have assets over rupees one crore. Thirty five out of 43 candidates analysed from the ruling Janata Dal-United (JD-U), which is 81 per cent have assets more than rupees one crore. Chirag Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) has fielded 38 crorepati candidates.
The report said that average of assets per candidate contesting in the elections is Rs 1.72 crore.
The report noted that the average assets per candidate for 24 Congress candidates is Rs 10.25 crore, Rs 4.95 crore for 43 JD-U candidates, Rs 4.82 crore for 56 RJD candidates, Rs 3.86 crore for 52 LJP candidates, Rs 3.44 crore for 46 BJP candidates and Rs 1.30 crore for 33 BSP candidates.
According to the report, Congress’ Sanjeev Singh is the richest among all the candidates with assets worth Rs 56 crore. He is contesting from the Vaishali Assembly. He is followed by RJD’s Deo Kumar Chaurasia, who is contesting from the Hajipur Assembly seat with assets worth Rs 49 crore.
The report also said that three candidates have declared zero assets in their affidavits. It also highlighted that about 683, which is 47 per cent of the 1,463 candidates have declared liabilities in their affidavits.
The report also said that 98 candidates have not declared their PAN details in their election affidavit.
The report further stated that 602 candidates, which is 41 per cent of the 1,463 candidates have declared their educational qualification is between Class five and Class 12. Similarly 720 candidates, which is 49% have declared having an educational qualification of graduate or above. It said, 122 candidates are literate and there are five candidates who are illiterate and 13 candidates are diploma holders.
In the second phase of the Bihar Assembly elections there are only 147 women candidates in fray. It is about 10 per cent of the total number of candidates.