GUWAHATI, April 6 - The second phase of the Assam Assembly election will witness several crorepatis in the fray with Badruddin Ajmal of the AIUDF (South Salmara) topping the list of crorepati candidates with assets above Rs 54 crore. The second richest candidate is Itesh Bordoloi, contesting as Independent from Bongaigaon, with assets over Rs 50 crore and the third richest candidate is Narayan Deka of BJP, contesting from Barkhetry, with assets above Rs 17 crore.
It has come to the fore in a analysis of financial details of 523 candidates by the Assam Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms that 125 candidates (24%) are crorepatis.
According to the organisations, 30 (53%) out of 57 candidates fielded by INC, 19 (54%) out of 35 candidates from BJP, 9 (47%) of 19 candidates from Asom Gana Parishad, 12 (26%) of 47 candidates fielded by AIUDF, 6 (60%) out of 10 candidates of Bodoland People�s Front and 39 (18%) out of 216 Independent candidates have declared assets worth over Rs 1 crore.
The findings reveal that the average assets of the candidates contesting in the second phase of the Assam Assembly elections is Rs 1.26 crore.
Among major parties, the average assets per candidate for the 57 INC candidates is Rs 2.64 crore, 35 BJP candidates have average assets of Rs 2.46 crore, 47 AIUDF candidates have average assets worth Rs 2.44 crore, 11 SUCI(C) candidates have average assets worth Rs 26.43 lakh, 19 Asom Gana Parishad candidates have average assets worth Rs 1.37 crore, average assets of 9 CPI(M) candidates is Rs 82.64 lakh, 5 CPI candidates have average assets worth Rs 10.88 lakh and the 216 Independent candidates have average assets of Rs 96.94 lakh.
On the other hand, 192 (37%) out of 523 candidates have not declared their income tax details. Twelve candidates with assets worth more than Rs 50 lakh have not declared their income tax details. The top three candidates with highest assets who have not declared their IT returns are Maheswar Dutta of CPI(M) contesting from Nalbari and who has assets above Rs 5 crore, Anwar Hussain contesting as Independent from Bilasipara East and with assets above Rs 2 crore and Rijumoni Gogoi of Bhartiya Rashtrawadi Party contesting from Dispur with assets above Rs 83 lakh.
