Bhubaneswar: The 17th Lok Sabha election and the 16th Assembly election in Odisha proved a mixed bag for the super rich candidates from Odisha. Many candidates with net worth running into crores were defeated, and many emerged victorious in the Lok Sabha polls. From Odisha, many heavyweights and rich political leaders contested this time, but were sadly defeated.
Among those who were defeated are Congress state President Niranjan Patnaik and his son Navajyoti Patnaik who were defeated in their respective Assembly and LS constituencies. Niranjan, who contested from Bhandaripokhari and Ghasipura Assembly constituencies, was defeated at both places. He was defeated by Prafulla Samal in Bhandaripokhari and by Badri Narayan Patra in Ghasipura. Niranjan has assets worth Rs 60.34 crore as per the ADR report which was released during the fourth phase of report submission.
Similarly, his son and Congress LS candidate from Balasore, Navajyoti Patnaik, was defeated by BJP candidate Pratap Chandra Sarangi. Navayoti has assets worth Rs 104.20 crore. Congress leader Chiranjib Biswal who fought from Jagatsinghpur lost to Prasanta Kumar Muduli of the BJD. Chiranjib has assets worth Rs 33.89 crore.
V. Chandrasekhar Naidu, the Congress candidate from Berhampur LS constituency , lost to Chandrasekhar Sahu of the BJD. Chandrasekhar has assets worth Rs 36 crore. Other rich candidates who were defeated are BJP’s Patnagarh Assembly candidate and a member of the royal family, Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo. He has assets worth Rs 37 crore. He was defeated by Saroj Kumar Meher of the BJD.
But not all rich candidates faced defeat. BJD’s Jharsuguda Assembly candidate Naba Kishore Das with assets worth Rs 33 crore won the seat. Another rich candidate and Puri’s current MP Pinaki Mishra who fought a tough battle against Sambit Patra from Puri LS seat won. He has assets worth Rs 117 crore.
Last, but not the least, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik who fought from Hinjili and Bijepur constituencies won easily, and is ready for another tenure as Chief Minister. His net worth is Rs 63 crore. In this election, 200 candidates from Odisha who contested the elections have a net worth of more than Rs 1 crore. Surprisingly, there is no one from Odisha among the 10 top rich contestants in the country. In this group, three are from AP, two each from Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, and one each from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Telangana