112 'crorepatis' to contest Assam polls first phase

Guwahati, March 31: Out of the 539 candidates contesting the first phase of assembly polls in Assam, 112 are crorepatis and at least 20 of them have assets worth over Rs.5 crore each, an analysis revealed on Thursday.

There are two candidates in the list, who have zero assets, Assam Election Watch (AEW) and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) said on Thursday.

As many as 36 candidates out of the total 65 fielded by the Congress, and 23 of the BJP out of the 54 in the fray are crorepatis (millionaires).

The AGP's list of candidates includes seven crorepatis, followed by two crorepatis each of the NCP and Bodoland Peoples' Front (BPF). Among the 280 independent candidates, 26 are crorepatis.

The analysis was done on the basis of the self-sworn affidavits of the candidates.

Sixty five (65) constituencies of the total 126 are going to polls in the first phase on April 4. The rest 61 will go to polls in the second phase on April 11.

"While 20 candidates have assets worth over Rs.5 crore, there are 46 who own assets worth between Rs.2 crore and Rs.5 crore," said Tasaduk Ariful Hussain of AEW.

"Independent candidate from Sootea constituency, Jyoti Subba, has the highest assets of Rs.2,88,11,84,362.00 so far.

"The wife of former Congress leader and former Lok Sabha member Mani Kumar Subba, Jyoti has movable assets worth Rs.1,41,41,30,990.00 and immovable assets worth Rs.1,46,70,53,372.00," Hussain said.

"AGP candidate from Naharkatia constituency Naren Sonowal is the second richest candidate in the list so far with assets of Rs.33,94,60,623.00.

"With assets worth Rs.25,00,99,788.00, Congress candidate for Algapur constituency Rahul Roy is the third richest candidate so far in the list," said Hussain. Rahul Roy is the son of veteran Congress leader Gautam Roy.

Hussain said there were two candidates who declared zero assets in their sworn affidavits -- CPI-ML-L's Jiten Tanti from Teok constituency, and independent candidate Diganta Phukan from Mariani.

IANS