BHUBANESWAR: Odisha seems to be shedding its ‘poor state’ tag, if the property of the netas contesting this election are any indication. Nearly half of the candidates contesting the Lok Sabha elections in the state in phase IV are crorepatis.
Interestingly, of the four constituencies - Kalahandi, Nabarangpur, Koraput and Berhampur that are going to polls on May 13, three were unpopular as most backward regions for a long time. As per an analysis of affidavits by Odisha Election Watch and Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), an election watchdog, of 37 candidates, including seven women, in the fray, 17 have assets worth more than Rs 1 crore.
While all four contenders of both BJP and BJD are crorepatis, three from Congress, four Independents, one each from Naba Bharat Nirman Seva Party (NBNSP) and Bharatiya Bikash Parishad (BBP) have assets of over Rs 1 crore. The average assets per candidate contesting in this phase is Rs 3.7 crore.
BJP’s candidates are richer than others as their average assets is Rs 13.76 crore and that of Congress is Rs 3.64 crore and BJD Rs 3.11 crore.
BJP’s Kalahandi candidate Malvika Devi is the richest with total assets worth over Rs 41.89 crore, followed by Independent candidate of Berhampur constituency V Chandra Shekhar, who has declared assets of Rs 28.7 crore. The BBP nominee for Berhampur Rajendra Dalabehera has assets worth Rs 10.3 crore.
BJP’s Balabhadra Majhi from Nabarangpur has assets of Rs 7.88 crore and Pradeep Panigrahy from Berhampur has assets of Rs 3.78 crore. Among BJD leaders, Berhampur candidate Bhrugu Baxipatra owns assets of Rs 5.25 crore, followed by Kausalya Hikaka of Koraput (Rs 3.5 crore) and Pradeep Majhi of Nabarangpur (Rs 2.32 crore).
With assets worth over Rs 7 crore, Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka from Koraput is the richest among Congress candidates. The party’s Berhampur candidate Rashmi Ranjan Patnaik has assets of over Rs 4 crore and Nabarangpur candidate Bhujabal Majhi has assets of Rs 2.97 crore. As per the ADR report, SUCI (C) candidate for Koraput Lok Sabha segment Pramila Pujari is the poorest candidate as she has assets of only Rs 20,625. Panigrahy has the highest liabilities worth Rs 3.82 crore.
The analysis indicated that seven of the candidates have declared criminal cases pending against them and six of them face serious criminal charges for which maximum punishment is five years or more. Maximum 17 cases are pending against BJD’s Nabarangpur candidate, nine against Panigrahy, seven against Baxipatra, three each against Bhujabal and Kaliram, two against Balabhadra and one against Congress candidate from Kalahandi Droupadi Majhi.
Altogether 14 candidates have declared their educational qualification to be between Class V and Class XII while 14 candidates are graduates and six are post graduates. Four among them are aged between 61 and 70 years, 23 are in the age group of 41 to 60 and 10 are aged between 25 to 40 years, the report added.
Rich and yearning for more
The average assets per candidate contesting in 1st phase (in the state) is Rs 3.7 crore
BJP’s candidates’ average assets is Rs 13.76 crore
BJP’s Kalahandi candidate Malvika Devi the richest with assets worth over Rs 41.89 crore
With assets worth over Rs 7 crore, Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka from Koraput is the richest among Congress candidates
