E-Paper
Chhattisgarh Election 2018: BJP has more crorepati candidates in the fray in 2nd phase
Association for Democratic Reforms’ report says re-contesting MLAs have seen their assets rise by an average of ₹1.37 crore or 13% in the five years since they won last polls.
The BJP has the largest number of millionaires in the fray, an analysis of affidavits of 1,057 out of 1,079 nominees contesting in the second phase of assembly election in Chhattisgarh has shown.
The findings were released by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), an NGO that works for electoral and political reforms, and Chhattisgarh Election Watch.
There are 69 MLAs re-contesting the assembly elections this year, they said. They could not analyse the affidavits of 22 candidates because their affidavits were either badly scanned or the complete affidavits were not available on the website of the Election Commission.
Read: List of Chhattisgarh’s crorepati MLAs
Out of the total candidates, 237 are from national parties, 156 are from state parties, 315 are from registered unrecognised parties, and 561 candidates are contesting as Independents.
The report said the re-contesting MLAs have seen their assets rise by an average of ₹1.37 crore or 13% in the five years since they won last polls. Their declared average asset has risen to ₹12.29 crore, from ₹10.92 crore declared in 2013, they added.
Their study said the average assets of the 34 re-contesting MLAs from the Bharatiya Janata Party have almost doubled to ₹4 crore. The average assets for the 30 re-contesting MLAs of the Congress is much higher at ₹21 crore, though it has remained almost unchanged from the 2013 levels.
The assets of three candidates from former chief minister Ajit Jogi’s Janta Congress Chhattisgarh (J), who had won the 2013 elections, have risen by nearly 11% to ₹5 crore, the group said.
Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party’s one re-contesting MLA saw a rise of 94% in his average asset to ₹3 crore, while the same for the lone Independent MLA has gone up by 21% to ₹8 crore, as per the study.
The report also said there are 239 crorepati candidates (23%) and the average asset of all candidates in the second phase is ₹1.73 crore.
At least 69 candidates have declared assets valued ₹5 crore or more in terms of wealth. TS Baba of the Congress party from Ambikapur constituency has the highest declared asset of over ₹500 crore, as per the report.
The Congress has 53, BJP has 61, JCC has 35, AAP has 13 and the BSP has 12 candidates among the list of crorepatis. Three from Ambedkarite Party of India and 42 Independent candidates have declared assets worth more than ₹1 crore, the report said.
At the same time, 19 candidates have declared zero assets. Among major parties, the average assets per candidate for the Congress is ₹11.8 crore, ₹5.11 crore for the BJP, ₹1.35 crore for the BSP and ₹1.11 crore for AAP. The Independent candidates have an average asset of ₹47.35 lakh.
At least 21 candidates have declared liabilities above ₹1 crore, 233 have not declared their PAN details and 630 did not declare their income tax details. Three candidates have a total self-declared income of more than ₹1 crore and 61 did not declare their source of income.
A total of 233 candidates have not declared their PAN details, 61 have not shared their sources of income and 630 have not disclosed income tax details for various reasons, of whom 30 have more than ₹1 crore assets.
The assets taken into account include salary, rental income, agriculture income, as also income from business and investments, among others, of the candidate as well as that of the spouse.
Voting for the first phase of election took place on November 12 for 18 assembly constituencies of the state and polling for the remaining 72 seats is scheduled for November 20. The results would be declared on December 11.
