Ahmedabad/Hyderabad: In the second phase of the forthcoming assembly polls in Gujarat, five BJP candidates cumulatively hold assets worth more than Rs 1200 crore with only one candidate having nearly half of the wealth. As many as 75 of the 93 candidates contesting in the second phase of the poll have assets worth more than one crore.
The recently published report by Association for Democratic Rights (ADR) shows that the BJP candidate contesting from Gandhinagar constituency Jayantibhai Somabhai Patel has assets worth Rs 661 crores. Jayantibhai who has the highest declared assets is followed by BJP candidate from Sidhpur - Balvantsinh Chandansinh Rajput who has a cumulative asset of more than Rs 343 crores.
Apart from that Ramanbhai D. Patel from Vijapur with Rs 95 crores, Babubhai Jamnadas Patel from Daskroi with Rs 61 crores and Yogesh R. Patel from Anand with Rs 46 crores figure out in the list of top ten candidates with the highest assets. Interestingly enough the cumulative asset of these five BJP candidates is more than Rs 1235 crores.
Not only that, the ADR report shows that 81 percent of the BJP candidates contesting in the second phase of the assembly polls scheduled on December 5 have assets worth more than one crore. Of the 93 candidates in the fray 75 of them have assets more than one crore. However, Congress is slightly ahead of BJP so far as crorepatis are concerned. Of the 90 Congress candidates 77 of them are crorepatis registering 86 percent crorepatis in the candidates’ list.
The average of assets per candidate contesting in the Gujarat Assembly Elections 2022 Phase II is Rs 4.25 Crores. Interestingly enough in the last Gujarat Assembly Elections Phase II in 2017 the average assets per candidate for 822 candidates was Rs.2.39 crores. The analysis also shows that the party wise average asset for BJP is Rs. 19.58 Crores whereas for Congress it is Rs 7.61 Crores and for Aam Admi Party is Rs 5.28 Crores.
On one hand, when there is flash of money particularly from the candidates from the major parties there are five candidates contesting in this election who have declared zero assets in their self-sworn affidavits. Independent candidate contesting from Gandhinagar North constituency Patni Mahendrabhai Somabhai, Patel Satyamkumar K contesting from Naroda constituency, Satish Hiralal Soni contesting from Amraiwadi constituency, Parmar Kasturbhai Ranchhodbhai contesting from Danimilda constituency and Jiwanbhai Ramabhai Parmar contesting from Sabarmati constituency has declared zero asset in their affidavits.
