More than 70 crorepatis in fray for Surat civic body polls, 50 from BJP

Surat, Feb 20: As many as 81 candidates contesting in the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) elections are crorepatis, of which 50 are from the BJP, while the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party have 13 and 12 such candidates, respectively.

According to a data shared by the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Gujarat Election Watch (GEW), BJP's Dharmeshbhai Sarasiya, contesting from ward number 3 is the richest candidate with assets worth Rs 89 crore.

Amita Patel, BJP candidate from ward number 100, has assets worth Rs 28 crore and Nilesh Patel, who is contesting for BJP from ward number 10, is in the third spot with Rs 25 crore.

While, the average of BJP candidates' assets worth is Rs 3.08 crore, for Congress it is Rs 74.12 lakh and for AAP it is Rs 47.11 lakh. According to reports, NCP has two crorepati candidates and the average asset of the party's candidates is Rs. 55 lakh.

As many as 42 candidates have criminal cases lodged against them - of which, 18 are from Congress, eight belong to AAP, seven from BJP and two are from NCP. Of these 42, 23 candidates have severe offences registered against them including attempt to murder charges, which include seven Congress candidates, six from BJP, five from AAP and two NCP candidates.