NEW DELHI: Out of the 1,121 candidates across parties contesting for the 147 Odisha Assembly seats, 295 have assets worth over Rs 1 crore, an analysis revealed on Sunday.
Among the candidates in the fray for the fourth and final phase polls in the state, Congress' Bobby Mohanty from Cuttack constituency has topped the crorepati list, declaring over Rs 106 crore assets, followed by Chief Minister and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) chief Naveen Patnaik with assets worth over Rs 60 crore.
According to an analysis done by Odisha Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms, 97 candidates of the BJD, 75 of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), 73 of the Congress, five of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), four of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and 41 Independent candidates have declared assets worth more than Rs 1 crore.
Average assets per candidate contesting from the Assembly seats in the fourth phase is Rs 1.69 crore.
Among major parties, the average assets per candidate for the 146 BJD candidates is Rs 4.59 crore, for 145 BJP candidates Rs 2.78 crore, for 139 Congress candidates Rs 3.85 crore, for 106 BSP candidates Rs 27.75 lakh and for 298 Independent candidates Rs 68.75 lakh.
The report noted that six candidates have declared zero assets in their affidavits.