New Delhi, March 21 (IANS): An overwhelming majority of the 63 candidates (87 per cent) in the fray for the coming Rajya Sabha elections are crorepatis with an average worth of Rs 122 crore, an analysis of the candidates self-sworn affidavits has revealed.
Although 55 out of the 63 candidates are crorepatis (with assets over Rs. 1 crore), the average worth has spiked thanks to a few very high worth candidates, according to the analysis by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
The richest candidate — and most likely to-be parliamentarian — is Mahendra Prasad of Janata Dal United (JD-U) with total assets worth a whopping Rs 4,078 crore. Prasad is distantly followed by actress Jaya Bachchan of Samajwadi Party who declared total assets worth Rs 1,001 crore.
B.M. Farooq of Janata Dal-Secular (worth Rs 766 crore), Abishek Manu Singhvi of the Congress (worth Rs 649 crore) and C.M. Ramesh of Telugu Desam Party (worth Rs 258 crore) are the other richest candidates in the fray, the analysis revealed.
In contrast, Achyutananda Samananta of Biju Janata Dal is the poorest candidate with total assets worth Rs 4 lakh only. The second lowest worth candidate is Samir Oraon of Bharatiya Janata Party with Rs 18 lakh worth of total assets.
Among the major parties, 26 out of 29 (90 per cent) candidates from BJP, 10 out of 11 (91 per cent) candidates from Congress, three out of four (75 per cent) candidates from Trinamool Congress, three out of three (100 per cent) candidates from Telangana Rashtra Samiti, two out of two (100 per cent) candidates from JD-U and one candidate (100 per cent) from Samajwadi Party have declared assets worth more than Rs 1 crore.
Partywise, the average net worth of each candidate of the 29 candidates of the BJP is Rs 16 crore while that of the 11 candidates of the Congress is Rs 66 crore.
The four Trinamool candidates have the lowest average worth of Rs 1 crore, matched by the sole candidate of the Communist Party of India-Marxist.
Eight out of 63 candidate shave serious criminal charges against them such as kidnapping, attempt to murder and robbery etc, the report said.
