Bhubaneswar: As many as 107 crorepati candidates are set to enter into new Assembly after winning in the recently concluded elections in the State, according to a report released by Odisha Election Watch in association with the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
The number of crorepatis has increased in the last four Assembly elections in the State from 22 percent in the 2009 election to as high as 73 percent in the 2024 election,
According to the report, only 22 percent (33 candidates) of the total 147 MLAs were crorepatis in 2009 Assembly elections, which increased to 52 percent (76 candidates) in the 2014 election and 65 percent (95 candidates) in the 2019 Assembly election.
However, in the 2024 election, the results of which were announced on June 4, about 107 of the total 147 winning candidates were crorepatis.
While 52 of the 78 winning BJP candidates (67 percent) were crorepatis, 43 of the 51 winning BJD candidates (84 percent) were crorepatis, and nine of the 14 winning Congress candidates (64 percent) were crorepatis.
Similarly, out of 147 winning candidates in the Assembly, 17 candidates had assets over Rs 10 crore, and an equal number of winning candidates had assets between Rs 5 crore and Rs10 crore.
Additionally, 73 MLAs had assets of Rs 1 crore to Rs 5 crore. The report indicated that there has been a sharp rise in the average assets of the 147 MLAs in the Assembly from Rs 1.71 crore in 2009 to Rs 3.22 crore in 2014, Rs 4.41 crore in 2019, and Rs 7.37 crore in the 2024 election.
The average assets of the BJP winning candidates in the 2024 election were Rs 3.92 crore, followed by Rs14.36 crore for the BJD winning candidates, and Rs 1.82 crore for the winning Congress candidates.
Among the winning MLA candidates, Champua MLA Sanatan Mahakud (BJD) is the richest with total assets of Rs 227.67 crore. BJD’s Subasini Jena, who won the election from Balasore assembly segment, is the second richest MLA with a total asset of Rs 135.17 crore. The third position was secured by BJD’s Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo, who was elected from Bolangir Assembly constituency.
Three candidates with the lowest assets are BJP’s Sanjali Murmu (Rs 35,076) won from Bangriposi Assembly seat, Congress candidate Mangu Khilla (Rs 1.47 lakh) won from Chitrakonda assembly segment and Congress’ Pabitra Saunta (Rs 2.90 lakh) who won from Lakshmipur Assembly constituency, the report said.
Among the top ten richest winning candidates, the BJD has seven, followed by three in the BJP.
About 43 sitting MLAs were re-elected during the 2024 election to the State Assembly. They included 26 from the BJD, 12 from the BJP, four from the Congress and one from CPI(M).
In the 2024 election, the BJP won 78 seats, the BJD won 51 seats, and the Congress managed to get 14 seats. The average growth of the re-elected MLAs from the 2019 Assembly election to the 2024 election was almost 100 percent, the report said.
Similarly, among the top ten candidates with the lowest assets who won the elections, the BJP has the maximum number of six candidates, followed by two each in the BJD and Congress.
The top three crorepatis who were defeated in the 2024 Assembly election were Dillip Ray from BJP with a total asset of Rs 313.52 crore. He was defeated at the hands of BJD candidate Sarada Prasad Nayak in the Rourkela Assembly seat.
The other two independent candidates are Soumya Ranjan Pattnaik from Ghasipura who had declared his total assets at Rs 122 crore and BJP candidate Rajeswari Singh from Nayagarh with a total asset of Rs 120 crore. Both Patnaik and Rajeswari were defeated by the sitting BJD MLAs Badri Narayan Patra and Arun Kumar Sahoo respectively.
Out of the 147 winning candidates, 85 candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves, which includes 67 candidates who are facing serious criminal cases.
As per the report, 46 out of 78 winning MLA candidates from BJP and 12 out of 51 winning MLA candidates from BJD have declared that they are facing serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.
Similarly, five out of 14 winning assembly candidates from Congress, 1 of CPI (M) and 3 independent winning candidates are also facing serious criminal cases, it said.
As many as 43 winning candidates have declared their educational qualification to be between class 5 and 12 pass, while 97 winning candidates have an educational qualification of graduate and above and 7 others are diploma holders.
Out of the total 147 winning candidates, 68 are of the age between 25 and 50 years while 79 have declared their age to be between 51 and 80 years, it said.
Moreover, the number of women candidates in the state assembly decreased to 11 from 13 elected in 2019 polls.