Chhattisgarh Times
Raipur: Congress candidate and sitting MLA of Ambikapur TS Singhdeo is the richest— with total assets of more than Rs 500 crore—among the 1079 candidates, contesting from 72 constituencies going to polls in the second phase of elections in Chhattisgarh.
As per a report from Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), 1057 out of 1079 candidates analysed, Tribhuneshwar Saran Singh Deo or TS Baba, a scion of the Sarguja royal family of Chhattisgarh, who is contesting in the upcoming assembly polls from his Ambikapur constituency, has declared his total assets of more than Rs 500 crores with movable assets of about Rs 8.58 crores and immovable assets of about Rs 491crores.
He is followed by Amitesh Shukla, another Congress candidate in fray from Rajim constituency with total assets of more than Rs 74 crores. An Independent candidate Kriti Devi Singh from Kawardha has declared third highest assets worth more than Rs 54 crores.
Three Independent candidates including Rubeena Anjum, Naim Ansari, and Radheshyam Sharma have declared lowest assets of just Rs 104, Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 respectively.
As per the report, an Independent candidate Vishal Kelkar, who is in fray from Korba constituency, has declared highest self- annual income of Rs 1.49 (1,49,35,440) crores. He is followed by Vikas Mahto, BJP candidate in fray from Korba constituency with a self-annual income of Rs 1.49 (1, 49, 17,141) crores. Mahto has also declared highest liability of about Rs 6.74 crores among the candidates contesting in the second phase of state assembly elections.
While Urban Development and Commercial Tax Minister Amar Agarwal who is contesting from his Bilaspur constituency have declared third highest self-annual income of Rs 2.14 lacs.
The report states that the average of assets per candidate contesting in the second phase of the state assembly elections is Rs 1.73 crores. Besides, as many as 19 candidates have declared zero assets.
The report says that out of the 1057 candidates analyzed, 23 per cent or as many as 293candidates are crorepatis. Among major political parties of the state, the highest crorepati candidates are in BJP. Out of 72, 61 or 85% of the candidates of BJP are crorepatis. However, 74% or 53 candidates of Congress and 35 or 76% of Janata Congress candidates are crorepatis. While a total of 233 candidates have not declared their PAN details.
According to the report, 57% candidates have declared their educational qualification to be between 5th and 12th, while 36% candidates have declared having an educational qualification of graduate or above and three per cent candidates have declared themselves to be just literates. Besides, there are nine candidates who are illiterate while five have not given details of their educational qualification in their affidavit.
